Against All Odds
by leoluvr6628
Summary: A new camper stumbles into Camp Halfblood just when they need her the least. But while everyone else is pushing Emma away, will one person bring her closer? Leo/OC
1. Prologue: Emma

**Hello, Percy Jackson fandom! Welcome to my first Heroes of Olympus fanfiction. This takes place really soon after the Lost Hero. Aaaand, I guess that's all I have to say for now. Enjoy!**

Camp Halfblood was having a chaotic day. It was the day construction of the Argo II was to begin. Unfortunately, it was all organized by Leo Valdez, which meant it wasn't very organized at all. Hephestus campers were running around like madmen, desperately trying to get started. As they did this the pretty much got in the way of everyone else and what they were trying to do. Leo was being absolutely no help whatsoever, for he was practically having a panic attack. Somebody had misplaced Festus' head. As you can see, the last thing Camp Halfblood needed was more trouble, which was the exact opposite of what they got.

On that most hectic day, a bedraggled teenaged girl stumbled up the hill towards Thalia's tree. What made it strange was that she made it past the tree. Any normal person wouldn't have been able to do that, as you know. But this girl ran right past the tree, tripped over her own feet, and fell down the other side.

The girl made a crash landing at the bottom of the hill and hopped to her feet. She looked around frantically, her blue eyes just as wild as her matted brown hair. She spotted the big house and took off running again. "Hello?" She called desperately. She glanced over her shoulder as she ran and tripped again. "Somebody help!"

She dragged herself up the steps to the porch and banged on the door.

"Can I help you?" asked a voice from behind her.

The girl whirled around to find Annabeth standing behind her.

"Please," she leapt forward and clutched Annabeth's shoulders. "This…this _thing _has been chasing me for the past two days and every time I try to ask someone for help they can't see it! I don't know what to do!"

"It's okay," Annabeth said with a soothing smile. "We can help you here. My name's Annabeth, and this is Camp Halfblood. We're all demigods. Do you know what that is?"

"One of your parents is a god? But that's not possible. That's all just myth!" the girl cried.

"I know it sounds crazy but it's true," Annabeth assured her. "My mother is Athena. There are kids here to represent almost all of the Greek gods. Right now the Hephestus campers are down by the sure building us a giant flying warship.

"They're what?" the girl gasped.

"It's a long story involving my missing boyfriend, a couple of giants, and according to Leo 'a face in the potty sludge.' But that's beside the point. There's a couple signs that you're a demigod, and being chased by mysterious monsters that no one else can see is one of them. By any chance do you have dyslexia or ADHD?"

"Uuuum," the frazzled girl said, "I have ADHD but not really bad, but no dyslexia. I don't see why this matters though. I am _not _a demigod. This…" she said waving around at the camp and Annabeth, "_isn't _real."

"Please," Annabeth begged, "I thought it was hard to believe, too, but we can help you here. Can you just tell me your name? I promise it will make sense in time."

The girl took a deep breath and released her death grip on Annabeth. She stood up straight and squared her shoulders. "Emma," she breathed and managed a small smile, "I'm Emma."

**I know this first chapter is really short, but it was really to just introduce my OC. I'll put a character profile here, but I'm leaving off her godly parent cause I want it to be a surprise.**

**Name: Emma (no last name, you'll find out why)  
****Age: 15  
****Hair Color: medium brown  
****Eye Color: dark blue  
****Notes: Like she said, she's not dyslexic but she does have very mild ADHD. She's kind of shy. She's a great artist. You'll see more of this later. She was just kind of upset and desperate in this chapter.**

**Okay I'm not sure how good this chapter was so please review. I promise it will get better, but only can if you give some constructive criticism!**


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome to Camp Halfblood

**Okay, since it seems like most of you enjoyed the prologue so I put up the first chapter. I already had it written so I figured "Why not?" Okay this chapter is a good bit longer so go read!**

Even after her initial talk with Annabeth, Emma was still having a hard time believing the whole "children of the gods" story. It just wasn't possible. But still, Annabeth seemed nice, so she decided to just accept the help and keep an eye out for anything weird.

Annabeth unlocked the door of the Big House and got Emma a clean camp T-shirt and a pair of jeans that weren't filthy and torn. "They're hand-me-downs," the blonde explained apologetically, "but it's better than nothing."

Emma was led upstairs to a bathroom. Annabeth rooted around in a closet and came out with a towel and a comb. "You can take a shower if you want, and then I'll show you around camp."

"Thanks," Emma said. She stepped into the bathroom and locked the door. She peeled off her filthy shorts and T-shirt and turned on the water. She found soap and shampoo in the shower and cleaned herself as quickly as possible. When she was done, she pulled on the clothes Annabeth had given her and combed two days' worth of tangles out of her.

Emma walked back into the hall to find Annabeth leaning against the banister and fiddling with the beads on her necklace. She looked up when she heard the door open and smiled at Emma. "Ready?" she asked.

Emma nodded and tried to smile back, but she was pretty sure it ended up looking more like a grimace.

She followed Annabeth back out of the house and down a hill. Now that she wasn't in a complete panic, Emma took the time to study her surroundings. A shallow stream cut through the middle of the camp. On the other side there were fields and fields of strawberries. When Emma stopped to gawk, Annabeth grinned and said, "Beautiful, isn't it? Strawberries are the camps main source of income." And with that she started walking again, forcing Emma to run to catch up.

They walked past volleyball courts and then over a bridge that crossed to stream. Once they were over, Emma spotted a signpost with arrows pointing left and right. "Annabeth?" she called out.

Annabeth stopped and looked over her shoulder to see that Emma had stopped to study the signpost. She walked back to her. "What's up?" she inquired.

"What do those say?" Emma asked, pointing up at the signs.

Annabeth gave her a funny look. "You mean you can't read them?"

"No. It's all in Greek. Right?"

"Yeah but…" Annabeth began, but then remembered something Emma had said earlier. "Oh, you're not dyslexic."

"No, but why does that matter?" Emma asked turning away from the sign to look at Annabeth.

"Most demigods' brains are hardwired to read ancient Greek, but we struggle to read any other language. A demigod that's not dyslexic is really rare," Annabeth explained. Emma blushed and looked down at her muddy purple Converse. "Sorry," she whispered.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. It just means you'll do better in the regular world than the rest of us." Annabeth gave the other girl's shoulder a friendly squeeze and offered yet another smile. This time, Emma managed to smile back.

"The signs just point to the different things around camp," Annabeth explained. "The stables, armory, and arena are that way," she said pointing to the left, "and the cabins and mess hall are that way," she finished, turning to point to the right.

"Okay," Emma said, giving a determined nod. "I can remember that. Let's keep going."

Annabeth nodded back and headed off to the right, Emma on her heels.

Pretty soon, they came upon a display of bizarre buildings laid out in the shape of an Omega.

"What are those?" Emma gasped. She took a step towards the spectacle in front of her. One building was decked out in skulls and jewels while the one next to it was painted rainbow colors. Another had flowers growing on the roof and one of the biggest looked like something straight out of – well – Greek myth!

Annabeth laughed and patted Emma on the back. "Most people say that," she chuckled. "Cabins are assigned by godly parent. Since we don't know who yours is yet you'll be staying in the Hermes cabin until you're claimed." Annabeth pointed across the green to the simplest cabin out of the bunch. It looked like a normal camp cabin. There was a bucket of something balanced on the door. "Oh no," Annabeth groaned, wiping a hand over her face. Just as she said it, a boy with curly brown hair pushed open the door and the bucket tipped, dumping something thick and brown all over him.

"What _is _that?" Emma asked, disgusted. She watched as a boy identical to the victim of the prank jumped around the corner laughing his head off.

"That," Annabeth sighed, "is Connor and Travis Stoll."

Emma gaped for a moment more and then noticed that Annabeth had started moving again. She hurried to catch up, tripping and stumbling her way along.

"This…this is just too weird!" she panted when she caught up. "I can't believe it."

"Just hold on," Annabeth commanded. "We're almost to the truly amazing stuff."

Annabeth pointed out the mess hall as they passed, but didn't stop. She continued down to the shore and kept walking for a good 100 feet before she realized Emma wasn't behind her. She turned to see her newest camper standing just above the surf, staring out at the waves and letting the breeze blow her damp hair around her face.

"_This_" Emma breathed when Annabeth had walked back to her, "is my favorite part so far. It's really spectacular."

"Yeah," Annabeth whispered, holding back tears as she wrapped her arms around herself. "I guess it is."

Emma tore her gaze from the rippling water and looked and the girl standing next to her. "Hey," she said quietly and laid a hand on Annabeth's arm, "you okay?"

Annabeth sniffed and wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. "Yeah," she said. She let her arms drop back to her sides and turned away from the water. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You wanted to show me something truly amazing…" Emma prompted, sensing that she should change the subject and get the tour moving again.

"Oh, yeah," Annabeth shook her head and then took off walking at the same break-neck pace as before.

Emma ran at full speed to keep up, but she was looking at the ocean instead of where she was going. Suddenly she had to grind to a halt to avoid crashing into her guide.

"Welcome," Annabeth said, "to the complete chaos that is the Argo II."


	3. Chapter 2: Seeing is Believing

Emma looked around her in awe. The signs in Greek had convinced her a little bit. The cabins had done it a bit more. But _this…_this was something else entirely. Through the entire tour, they hadn't seen much of anybody. Well, now Emma knew where everyone was. At least a hundred kids were hard at work. They were sawing and nailing and screwing. She had no idea what the heck they were building, but it was _massive._

None of this was what pushed Emma into believing though. What did that, was the fact that there was a horse off to the side prancing around happily. And the horse had _wings_!

"Okay," Emma said. "I have officially moved to Crazy-town. This is totally and completely insane. I've lost my mind!" She threw her hands up in the air and continued staring at the spectacle before her.

Annabeth looked at her, disappointed. She was sure that this would convince Emma to believe. "You still don't believe me?" she asked.

Emma turned and looked at the blonde girl. "I never said that. I totally believe! I mean that," she pointed at the winged horse, "that's a Pegasus. A real, live Pegasus! This place is awesome!" She raised her arms to the sky and twirled around in a circle.

Annabeth laughed. "Good. I'm glad you…" she began, but got cut off by a boy that came hurtling toward them out of nowhere.

"Annabeth!" he cried. He fell Annabeth's feet and clutched her pant leg. "You've gotta help me! I can't find the head anywhere!" he begged.

Annabeth groaned. She grabbed the corner of the guy's shirt and hauled him to his feet. "Leo, you have got to calm down," she ordered. "Panicking is not going to solve anything."

The guy did as he was told and took a deep breath. And then, he noticed Emma.

He let his breath out in a hurry. He leaned over to Annabeth and whispered, "Who's the girl?"

"This is Emma," Annabeth explained. "She just arrived about half an hour ago."

"Sweet, new girl," Leo said with a grin. He held his hand out to Emma. "Hey, I'm Leo. Son of Hephaestus, dragon tamer, inventor extraordinaire." Emma gave him a strange look and he deflated a bit. "But, you can call me Leo."

Emma smiled. "Nice to meet you, Leo." She shook his hand and he grinned again.

"Well," Leo said, pulling his hand away. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got a dragon head to find." And with that, he was gone.

Emma watched him go with a smile.

"Sorry about him," Annabeth sighed. "He's an extreme flirt, and he's already been turned down by every girl in the camp."

"No," Emma said. "I thought he was nice."

Both of them were silent for a moment, but then by some unspoken understanding, they started walking again.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

That night, Camp Halfblood had a beach bonfire to celebrate the start of the Argo II. Everyone trekked down and settled on the sand after dinner.

"It's hopeless!" Leo cried. He threw himself down on the sand beside Jason and Piper. "Festus' head has disappeared." He buried his face in his hands with a groan.

His friends ignored his complaints. They knew he'd find the head. He'd probably just put it somewhere in Bunker 9 and forgotten about it.

"Hey," Piper said. She reached around Jason and poked Leo to get his attention. Leo looked up at her and she pointed down towards the ocean. "Who is that?"

Leo picked himself up and leaned back on his elbows. He looked in the direction Piper was pointing. Just above the surf, someone was sitting all alone with their legs pulled up to their chest. Leo squinted to get a better look and then said, "Oh, I think that's Emma. She's new."

"Oh," Jason and Piper said together.

"Well, I'm gonna go say hi," Piper declared. She put her hand on Jason's head and pushed herself up. She walked away towards Emma, Jason and Leo watching her retreating back.

A few feet away from the lonely girl, Piper stopped. Emma looked like she was perfectly happy by herself, just enjoying the waves. Piper watched her for a moment. The water was lapping up the beach and stopping a few inches below the toes of Emma's purple hi-tops. Her chin rested on her knees and her arms wrapped around her legs. Her eyes seemed distant, like she was thinking hard about something and didn't want to be disturbed.

Piper started to turn away, but not in time to miss the water flowing up and hitting Emma's ankles. At just that mere touch, the ocean exploded. It ripped up the sand and snatched Emma up, dragging her into the abyss.

**Alright, chapter 2! Sorry it took a bit long, but I went on vacation to Savannah and didn't have my computer. I really hope you like it.**

**Now listen up people. Today is my birthday. Yes, fourteen years ago today I was born. Now do you know what you could do to make my birthday extra special? You could give me a review. And not just an "I loved it, update soon!" kind of review. A legit review that tells me what you actually think and what I could do to make it better.**

**Thank you, and happy First Day of the Olympics! Our Greek heritage will be celebrated today. Yay!**


	4. Chapter 3: A Not So Warm Welcome

**Thanks for all the reviews my beautiful readers! And the birthday wishes too! A lot of you suggested that I write longer chapters, and I totally get it. I understand your pain. I really have trouble with chapter lengths though. I always make them too short. I promise, I will really try hard to write longer chapters. I'm not a professional, even though I hope that one day I'll have people writing fanfiction for my books. I only ask that you bear with me as I learn and help me get better. Thank you and enjoy the story!**

* * *

Leo was still lying on the ground mourning the loss of Festus' head when Piper got up and left. He waved her off with a half-hearted "what-ever" and went back to his pitiful moaning.

"Dude!" Jason shouted. He kicked his friend in the ribs. "Calm down. I'm sure Happy the Dragon's head is around here somewhere. 600 pound dragon heads don't just disappear."

"They do when you live in the same place as 37 children of Hermes," Leo grumbled bitterly. He shot a hateful look towards Connor and Travis Stoll. "That idiot Travis has always had it out for…"

A short, terrified shriek split the air, cutting him off. In a split second, weapons were unsheathed and demigods were sprinting towards the water.

"Was that Piper?" Leo asked Jason as he scrambled to his feet and pulled his favorite hammer out of his tool belt.

"Yep," Jason answered. He dashed away, flipping his gold coin into a sword.

The two of them shoved their way to the front of a group of mystified campers. Everyone had lowered their weapons and was just staring at the ocean. The boys found Piper standing ankle deep in the water and looking up at what had everyone so interested.

An inverted whirlpool was swirling up about fifty feet out. As it rose, the people on the beach could make out the shape of a person at the peak. Leo leaned forward to try to make out who it was.

"Oh my gods!" Annabeth shouted from behind him. "It's Emma!"

Piper nodded frantically, still as shocked and silent as she had been since her initial scream.

Slowly, the pillar of water slid closer to land and started shrinking back down into the water. It gently set Emma down on the sand and then rushed back out to the ocean. The confounded girl stumbled and fell to her knees. She picked herself up and brushed some sand off her jeans. Her completely _dry _jeans. She'd been completely submerged in water, and she was as dry as if she'd just crawled out of the desert.

"What're you all looking at?" she asked nervously, looking up at all the people staring at her.

"I _think _you just got claimed," Leo in

There was a choked sob from somewhere towards the front of the crowd. Everyone turned to see Annabeth covering her mouth to hold in the rest of her sobs. "Somebody needs to…" she whimpered. "I – I'm sorry, I just can't." People jumped out of her path as she ran away crying.

There was a tense silence as they watched her go.

"Well," Leo said in an attempt to change the mood, "I guess I'll show you to your cabin then." He bowed and gestured to the path Annabeth had left in her wake.

Emma tucked her hair behind her ear and tried to smile at Leo. She nervously shuffled down the path with Leo behind her. A lot of people gaped as she passed, but even more glared. She could hear people whispering about her. She caught words like "freak," and "unwanted." She ducked her head timidly and picked up the pace. Someone stuck their foot out and tripped her. She fell to the ground with a startled cry. Somebody laughed out loud and their mirth at her pain spread through the crowd until almost everyone was chuckling too.

Leo rolled his eyes and bent to help her up. "Ignore them," he muttered, "most of them can't tell a Pegasus from a unicorn." He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. He lead her away with an arm wrapped around her shoulders. She leaned into him gratefully.

He took her through the ring of cabins and over to the Poseidon one. He pulled open the door and flicked on the lights. "Welcome home!" he offered cheerfully. She sniffled and gave him another small smile.

They both looked around the large space. It was one of the biggest cabins in camp, but it was way homier than the Zeus cabin. It was decorated nicely with bronze hippocampi on the ceiling. The walls were gray stone with shells and colorful stones embedded in them. There was a bed in one corner and a desk in the other. Unfortunately, there were somebody's personal items scattered all over the room.

"Oh," Leo said. "I, um, guess you can take Percy's bed tonight. I can find another one tomorrow, but…yeah."

"Okay, thanks," Emma said quietly.

They stood and looked at each other for a minute. "Sleep tight!" Leo said finally. He gave a small wave and left.

Emma sighed. "Excellent," she muttered to herself. "First I get chased by monsters. Then I end up in a camp full of crazies. Then I get eaten by the ocean. And now everyone but Leo hates me. This is _definitely _the worst week of my life." She flopped down in the desk chair with a sigh. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back for a moment. Her head snapped back up and she looked around the room again.

Besides the bed and the desk with the chair, there was a fountain on one wall. She wandered over and peered at it. It was spraying mist from a fish's mouth and creating a shimmery rainbow. Emma smiled to herself. She loved rainbows. There were some gold coins in the bottom, but she was too afraid to take any.

There was a bookshelf on the opposite wall. She ran her fingers along the spines, but just kept walking. Every last one of them was in Greek.

All of the windows in the cabin looked out to sea. The waves were choppy and loud, as if they were trying to get her attention. Emma bent and studied the sea plants and corals the decorated the window sill

She moved back to the desk and leaned on the rough wood. There was a collage of stuff tacked up on the wall above it. Letters, postcards, a schedule, pictures. One photo in particular caught her eye. She leaned in closer to get a better look. It showed a boy with black hair and bright green eyes that was probably about her age. He was standing knee deep in water and was wearing nothing but a pair of swim trunks. Annabeth was perched on his shoulders. He was holding her waist with one hand and waving at the camera with the other. Annabeth had her hands tangled in his hair to hold herself up. They were both smiling.

Emma smiled back at the happy pair in the picture. She moved away and walked over to the bed. There was a large trunk sitting at the end of it. She knelt in front of it and fumbled with the clasp for a minute before finally getting it open. She pushed the lid up and peered inside. She gasped in surprise and jumped back a few inches.

Cautiously, she crawled forward again. Inside the box was a gleaming bronze dragon head. Once she realized that it was just a head and therefore it couldn't hurt her, she reached in and pulled it out. It weighed a _ton. _She grunted and heaved and finally managed to hoist it over to lip of the trunk and get it on the floor. She ran her hand along the smooth surface and looked it over. I t was exactly what she'd always pictured a dragon's head to look like, except for the fact that it was entirely made of metal. There were wires poking out of the base of its neck. Emma got back to her knees and leaned over to look if there were any more random dragon parts in the trunk.

Down at the bottom was a yellow sticky note. She reached in and pulled it out. "Oh yippee," she mumbled. "More Greek." She stuck the note to the dragon's snout and sat back on her heels. Hadn't somebody said something about a missing dragon's head earlier? She was sure she remembered someone desperately looking for it. "Leo!" she cried suddenly. She scrambled to her feet and rushed to the open door.

There were a few kids on the green, but none of them were Leo. Emma looked around, and then stepped out, pulling the door part way closed behind her.

She walked slowly over to the nearest people, two girls sitting on the steps of the next cabin over. They both looked tough and mean. One was significantly taller than the other and had her stringy brown hair held back by a red bandana. Their cabin was also red, and the roof was lined by barbed wire. There was a boar's head mounted above the door, and she could have sworn that its eyes followed her. Emma timidly approached them.

"Excuse me," she asked. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if either of you could tell me where I might be able to find Leo." She smiled at the girls but they just glowered back.

"Leave us alone. Nobody wants you here," the red-head spat at Emma. The mean girl and her friend got up and went inside.

Emma stood there for a moment. She shook her head to clear away the shock and turned back to the green to find somebody else to ask. When she looked she found that someone was already approaching her. The boy himself was one of the weirdest things she'd seen all day. He had small horns poking up out of the tangled mess of brown hair on his head. He had a little beard on his chin, and where Emma should have seen jeans and perhaps a pair of sneakers, the kid had _goat legs_. Emma managed to stop herself from gaping, but only just.

"I'm sorry about them," the boy smiled at her as he approached. "Ares kids aren't exactly known for being polite." She smiled back and he continued. "I'm Grover. I just got back to camp a few minutes ago, but I heard about what happened on the beach. You're Emma, right?"

Emma nodded and held out her hand. "Yeah. It's nice to meet you, Grover," she said.

Grover shook her hand and said, "Same here. Did you need something or were just looking for a chat. Just for future reference, I'd suggest not trying to chat with an Ares kid in any situation."

Emma giggled. "Actually, I was hoping to find Leo. I have something he might be interested in," she told him.

"No problem. I'll show you where the Hephaestus cabin is," Grover said. He motioned for Emma to follow him and started off down the line of cabins.

The next cabin they saw looked like a normal cabin until a beam of light from the setting sun hit it. Then, it gleamed like solid gold. "Apollo cabin," Grover said as they passed. "Those kids are pretty nice. Usually willing to be friends with everyone." Emma nodded and they kept going.

Grover stopped in front of the next cabin. There was a smokestack on the roof. Emma wasn't sure if it was more like a small factory or a small mobile home. Grover hopped up the three steps in the front and knocked on the door. "Come on in," yelled someone from inside.

Grover leaned his weight against the heavy door and pushed it open. This prompted a series of hisses and the release of some steam. He stood with his back against it to let Emma enter first. She nodded her thanks and stepped in.

"Was that you, Jake?" Grover shouted as he followed her in.

"Where else would I be?" the voice from before responded.

Grover walked over to one set of bunks and stepped up on the lower one. "Hey, dude," he said into the upper one. When he noticed that Emma was still standing just inside the door, he waved for her to come over.

Emma followed Grover's example and hoisted herself up to look into the top bunk. What she had previously thought to be a large pillow beneath the blanket, was actually a person in a full body cast.

"Hello," the person said to Emma. "I'm Jake Mason. Have we met? I might've forgotten. You know, head injuries can do that to a guy."

Emma smiled nervously. "Um…no, we haven't met. My name's Emma. I just got here today."

"Ah, so you're the inexplicable daughter of Poseidon. Leo told me about what happened earlier," Jake said with a smile.

"Actually, we were looking for Leo. Do you know where he is?" Grover asked.

Jake sighed and rolled his eyes, which were one of the only things he could move. "He's downstairs tearing up his room again. He's driving himself insane over Festus' head."

Suppressing a smile, Emma said, "Is there any way I could talk to him?"

Jake nodded as much as he could and pointed his eyes towards the far wall. "There's a keypad on that wall. His password is 5-3-6. It spells 'Leo' when you put letters to it."

Emma giggled and said thanks. She and Grover dropped down to the floor and she started towards the number pad.

Grover grabbed her arm to stop her. She turned to look at him and he said, "I have to go find Annabeth. You'll ask Leo if you need something, right?"

Emma smiled at the satyr. "Yeah. Thanks for your help, Grover."

"No problem," he answered as he turned to leave. "I'm always willing to help." He waved to Emma and shouted, "Bye, Jake!" and left.

Emma walked over to the keypad and punched in the number Jake had told her. There was a mechanical whirring from behind her and she turned to see a new bed rising from the floor. This wasn't a normal camp bed though. It was accessorized with gadgets such as video games, computers, even a mini fridge. Sitting atop the tangled mass of blankets and sheets was Leo's ever present tool belt.

"Just sit on the bed and press the big red button to go down," Jake called to her from his bunk.

"Thanks, got it," Emma called back. She sat down delicately, careful not to bump anything. On one of the bed posts there was a big red button just as Jake had said. Emma pressed it and the bed lowered into the floor.

The room below Cabin 9 was much more than the simple "private area" most of the campers believed it to be. It was a vast space filled with boxes the spiraled out from a small clear area and into a confusing maze. Emma looked around at what she could see. No Leo, but she could hear someone mumbling and throwing things around not far off. Not willing to venture into the box labyrinth, she stood up from the bed and called, "Leo?"

Leo cried out in surprise. There was a crash and he cursed loudly. Emma spun towards where his voice had come from. He came limping out of a passage, holding one foot in his hands and hopping around on the other.

"Oh, my gosh!" Emma cried. She rushed towards him and let him lean on her. "I'm so sorry. I needed to talk to you and Jake told me to just come down and find you…" She trailed off as she led him over to his bed and he sat down.

"Don't sweat it," Leo chuckled. "You'd be surprised how often that happens." He removed the shoe from his injured foot with one hand and reached under the bed with the other. He yanked open a mini fridge and pulled out an ice pack, pressing it to his foot. He gave a satisfied sigh and leaned back against the mound of blankets in the middle of his bed.

Leo noticed that Emma was still standing in front of him with a worried look on her face. "Seriously, Emma, I'm fine," he assured her. He patted the bed next to him and said, "Have a seat." She sat and watched him nervously, afraid that she'd somehow hurt him again. "You wanted to talk to me about something…" Leo prompted.

"Oh, of course! I can't believe I forgot," she exclaimed. She smacked her forehead and grinned. "I think I found your dragon head," she informed him happily.

"No way!" Leo cried. "I can't believe it, I looked everywhere! Where'd you find it?"

"In a trunk in my cabin," she smiled. It was obvious that she'd more than made up for the accidental foot injury.

Leo sat up straight again. "Let's go get it!" He stretched backwards and smacked the red button. They were raised back up to the main cabin.

Leo tried to jump to his feet, but in his excitement he forgot about the box of parts he'd dropped on it. When he put pressure on his left foot, pain ripped up his leg. He bit back and scream and collapsed onto the bed.

"Please let me help you," Emma begged. She reached out and touched his hand. Leo nodded, but his eyes were still squeezed shut. He let out a big breath and opened them again. He nodded once more and gave Emma a thankful smile.

She took his left hand in hers and pulled his arm over shoulders. She wrapped her right hand around the back of his torso. They both pushed up into a standing position. Leo hopped a little bit to get in a good spot and then looked at Emma and said, "Let's go."

Emma shouted goodbye to Jake as she and Leo hobbled out of the cabin. A few people turned to stare as they passed on their way back to Emma's cabin. "What?" Leo shouted at them. "You've never seen a guy with a broken foot before? Carry on. Nothing to see here."

The two of them hopped up the shallow stone steps. Emma lifted her inside leg to kick open the door, but they both wobbled and almost fell. Leo's free hand whipped out and caught the door frame and they managed to stay upright. Emma carefully nudged to door open with her hip instead.

When Leo saw the dragon head sitting on the floor, he gasped and exclaimed, "Festus!" He extracted himself from Emma and scrambled across the floor on his hands and knees. He wrapped the hunk of bronze in a tight hug.

Emma wandered over and knelt next to him. She held out the yellow sticky-note and said, "There was a note with it."

Leo sat up and took it from her. He read it quickly the crumpled it up in his fist. He growled and pitched it into the wastebasket across the room. "I knew Travis had something to do with it," he grumbled. He looked back up at Emma. She was smiling at him, her hand resting affectionately of Festus' snout. He smiled back and lunged forward, wrapping her in a tight hug. "Thank you," he said as she hugged him back. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

Emma enjoyed the hug. No one where she came from was big on showing affection or appreciation. Leo pulled away too soon for her taste, but she didn't let her disappointment show. "I'm just glad I could help," she said. "But how are you getting back to your cabin? I'd help you carry it, but I can't hold it _and _you. Heck, I could barely get it out of the trunk."

Leo thought for a moment. He pulled a paper clip from his pocket and started twisting and bending it, not even looking at what he was doing. "I've got it!" he declared, brandishing a newly created paper clip-sized sword. He glanced at it. "Hmm, where'd that come from?" he pondered. He shook the thought from his head though. "Anyway, I've got a plan!" He explained it to Emma and she nodded in agreement before dashing out of the cabin.

Emma bounded up the steps of the Apollo cabin. The sun had set by that time, so it just looked like a regular old cabin. Emma knocked on the door frame and poked her head in. There was a girl with short blonde hair sitting on one of the bunks and fiddling with a lyre. She looked up at Emma and growled, "Can I help you?"

Emma uttered an inward sigh. This was obviously another person who hated her for no reason. "Yes," she said politely. "Leo dropped something on his foot and I think it's broken. He sent me here and said you could help."

The girl groaned loudly and dramatically. "Wiiiilll!" she whined.

The door at the back of the cabin opened and an older boy stepped out into the main room. He was wearing jeans, but no shirt or shoes and his skin glistened with drops of water. "What do you want, Victoria?" he sighed, rubbing his damp blonde hair with a towel. He was obviously annoyed with his sister.

Victoria raised her arm and pointed at Emma. "The weirdo from the beach says Leo hurt himself again."

Will followed her finger to where Emma stood. She gave him nervous wave. He returned her silent hello with a half-smile and turned back to Victoria. "Whose turn is it?" he asked with a sigh.

"I think it's Kayla's, but I don't know where she is," Victoria responded. She went back to plucking at her lyre, making it clear that _she _wasn't going to be of any help.

Will rolled his eyes and tossed his towel in the general direction of the bathroom. "Just give me a sec," he told Emma. He sauntered over to the set of bunks where Victoria was sitting. He climbed up to look in the upper one, making a point of kicking her in the process. He laughed when she cried out indignantly. He dug around in the upper bunk and came out with an orange camp T-shirt. He gave it a good sniff and shrugged before pulling it on. Emma and Victoria both shuddered. Will rolled his eyes again and stuffed his feet into a pair of flip-flops. He gestured to the door and Emma led the way.

They walked up the stairs into the Poseidon cabin. Leo waved sheepishly from his spot on the floor and Will chuckled. "Dude, you need to knock it off or I am going to completely cover you in bubble wrap," he laughed. He flipped the lid on the trunk closed and he and Emma helped Leo get up so he could sit on it. They propped his foot on Festus' head and Will poked it. Leo screamed and Will and Emma both jumped. "I'm sorry!" Will cried.

Leo cut off his scream and started laughing. "Suckers!" he choked out between bursts of laughter.

Will tried to stay serious but couldn't suppress a smile. Emma just looked panicked and scared. Leo reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "I'm fine, Emma, I promise. It hurt when he poked me, but not that bad," he assured her.

Emma blushed and moved her hair to hide her face.

Will shook his head and brought their attention back to Leo's broken foot. "I can definitely heal it. It might be stiff for a while though."

"I just wanna be able to walk. Do with me what you will," Leo said. He leaned back on his elbows against the bed.

Will closed his eyes and sang something in Greek. Emma gave Leo a questioning look. He made a face and twirled his finger around his ear. Emma had to press her hand over her mouth to stop herself from giggling.

Will's song ended and he opened his eyes again. He hopped to his feet and held his hand out to Leo. Will pulled him to his feet and Leo hopped on his freshly healed foot. "As good as the last seven times you fixed it. Thanks, Will," he said.

Will smiled and answered, "Don't mention it." He turned to leave and waved to Leo and Emma over his shoulder.

"We should probably get this thing back to your cabin," Emma said after a moment of silence. She nudged the head with the toe of her hi-top.

"Yeah," Leo said. "Can you help or should I go find one of my…"

"I can help," Emma interrupted. "But first, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

Emma hurried over to the desk and retrieved the picture she'd been looking at earlier. She held it out to Leo and asked, "Who's the boy in this picture."

Leo took it and held it up to the light. "I never met him, but I'd bet my tool belt that that's Percy Jackson. He lived here before, but he disappeared a while before I go here. His dad is Poseidon, too."

Emma took the picture back and studied Percy's face. "So he's my brother? But we look nothing alike."

"Half-brother," Leo corrected, "but, yeah, you're related. And you look a little alike. You have the same nose. And you both have that big smile." He stepped around behind her and pointed to the features on Percy as he listed them.

Emma blushed at their close proximity and stepped away. "Well…thanks for telling me," she said. She put the picture back where it belonged. "So do you…"

"Yeah," Leo said. He brushed his hands together and then bent and latched onto the base of Festus' neck. Emma laced her fingers together under his snout. Together they lifted it and staggered back to the Hephaestus cabin. When they were outside the door, their grunting and groaning attracted the attention of someone inside. A tall girl with dark hair dashed out and grabbed onto Festus' head to help them get it through the door. They tossed it onto Leo's bed and he and Emma collapsed to the floor.

"Thanks, Nyssa," Leo panted. He held out his hand to Emma and smiled. She made an attempt to high-five him, but missed. Leo snorted a laugh and her already flushed cheeks darkened. He used his other hand to grab her wrist and pressed their hands together. "I'll give you some high-fiving lessons tomorrow," he joked. They both burst out laughing.

* * *

**How's **_**that **_**for longer chapters, huh? I think this is the longest chapter I have ever written. I can hear your silent and sarcastic applause now. I'm going to take it as a compliment though. I worked really, really, REALLY, hard on this, so I would appreciate a review. Tell me what you think and if you liked it as much as I do.**

**And may the gods be **_**ever **_**in your favor!**

**(hehe, I made a pun!)**


	5. Chapter 4: Carpe Diem

**Hey everyone! I am soooo sorry this update took so long. I started school again, and before that I was really busy and I feel awful because I meant for this to be up by Percy's birthday, but it wasn't. There's going to be a really long author's note at the end of this chapter, but I ask that you read it because it's going to contain some important information. For now, I'm going to let you get back to the story.**

Emma was so drained from her day that she didn't even care that she had to sleep in the bed of a missing boy. She just collapsed on top of the blankets and zonked out the second her head hit the pillow.

Her precious sleep was cut shorter than she would have liked it however. For at the ungodly hour of 8:37 the next morning, Leo Valdez came to pay her a visit.

"Up and at 'em, beautiful," he shouted cheerfully as he kicked open the door of the Poseidon cabin. He marched across the room to the sleeping girl, a plate stacked high with pancakes in one hand and a bottle of syrup and a fork in the other.

He peered down at her with a grin. She was curled up on her side, clutching the pillow to her chest. Her hair was lying over her face. She still wore her camp shirt, jeans, and Converse. He set the pancakes down on the desk and leaned over her.

"Emma," he said quietly. He put his hand on her shoulder and shook her. She stirred a bit and swatted at him, but didn't wake up. He gently pushed her hair out her face and patted her cheek. "Emma, wake up," he said again, louder this time. She shook her head and kicked out at him, but her eyes remained closed. Leo rolled her so she was on her back. Nothing. Poked her repeatedly. Zilch. Finally, he grabbed both of her shoulders, shook her hard, and shouted, "Emma!"

Her eyes snapped open and she screamed. Her first instinct was to push the blurry person standing over her away, so that's what she did. She shoved Leo's chest hard and sat up on the bed. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and took a second look at her attacker, only to discover Leo.

Emma growled at herself and smacked her forehead. "Sorry, Leo," she sighed. "I'm a deep sleeper."

"No prob," Leo said, waving her off. "I hope you like pancakes though. You missed breakfast, but I managed to snag you some." He held the plate out to her.

Emma's eyes brightened and she licked her lips. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she squealed. She leapt forward and snatched the plate from him. She scooted back so she was against the wall and crossed her legs. She set the pancakes in her lap and then stopped and looked around. Not finding what she was searching for, she shrugged and picked a pancake up in her hands.

"Stop!" Leo shouted, before she could take a bite. She froze with the pancake halfway to her open mouth and looked up at him. He held the fork out to her and she blushed. She set her pancake back down and took the fork she was being offered.

"Thanks," she mumbled, embarrassed.

Leo laughed and plopped down next to her on the bed. "It's okay. You've got to be starving."

Emma nodded in response, he mouth so full of pancakes she couldn't talk. She swallowed with a gulp. "Yeah. Dinner last night was the first time I'd eaten in a couple days, and I didn't really get that much." Neither of them said anything and she went back to her pancakes.

There was only one pancake left on the plate when Leo gasped and pointed across the cabin. "What in Hades is _that_?" he exclaimed.

"What?" Emma cried. Her eyes darted around the cabin, but she couldn't find anything that hadn't been there last night. "What did you see?" she asked, turning back to Leo. It was her turn to gasp then. Leo was sitting there with half a pancake hanging out of his mouth and a smile twinkling in his eyes. Emma started laughing. "Aw, come on," she giggled, "_so _not cool." She grabbed the part of pancake that was hanging against Leo's chin and pulled so it ripped in half.

Leo chewed what was in his mouth so he could laugh, too. He and Emma studied the mangled remains of the pancake that hung limp between her hands. "That was my last pancake," she said sadly. She stuck out her bottom lip and looked up at Leo with the biggest eyes he'd ever seen.

"Oh no!" he cried. He covered his face with his hands and shrunk away from her. "Not the puppy dog face! I'm sorry! Please forgive me!"

Emma giggled and threw the pancake carcass in his face. "You are forgiven. You might as well finish that poor thing off though. Put it out of its misery."

"Thanks, beautiful," he said. He peeled the slab of dough off of his face and crammed it in his mouth with a wink.

Emma blushed and attempted to run her fingers through her hair, only to be stopped by a giant tangle. She tried to comb it out with her fingers, but failed. She sighed in exasperation and slumped down the wall. She looked back up at Leo. "You don't happen to have an extra comb do you?" she asked.

"Actually, I do," he said. He arched his back so he could reach his back pockets and produced a comb. "I have connections in the Aphrodite cabin. My friend Piper keeps giving me these stupid things. She says my hair looks like crap. You don't think my hair looks like crap, do you?"

Emma laughed and tousled his charcoal colored curls. "Of course not. I think your messy hair is cute." She took the comb from him and yanked it through the rat's nest that was her hair. When she was done she ran her fingers all the way through it to the ends and shook her head. "Gaah," she groaned. She brushed her hands together and plucked a couple long brown hairs out of the teeth of the comb. "I swear, I must be part yorkie, I shed so much." She laughed at herself and tried to hand the comb back to Leo.

"Keep it," he insisted, "I've got about 62 more scattered around my room."

"Thanks," Emma said gratefully. She set the comb down on the desk and held her hand out to Leo. "I assume there's somewhere we're supposed to be."

Leo hopped to his feet and replied, "Well I have a flying warship to build. You probably need to get a schedule. Annabeth usually handles that though…" he trailed off. "Probably don't want to talk to her just yet. Have you met Chiron?"

"No, but I think I've heard of him. He's a centaur right?" Emma guessed.

"Yeah," Leo said. "I'll walk up to the Big House with you."

"Lead the way," Emma said.

Leo exited the cabin and Emma followed him out, pulling the door closed behind her. He started back across camp to the house looming on the hill.

"So," Leo said as the strolled past the canoe lake, "your family must be pretty worried about you. How long have you been away from home?"

"Three days, well four counting today," Emma responded. "But I'm sure no one's worried about me."

"Oh, come on," Leo chuckled. He nudged her with his elbow and she staggered to the side and started falling. He reached out and grabbed her, pulling her back towards him and setting her back on her feet. "Careful there. But anyway, I'm sure your family is at least wondering what happened to you. I know a thing or two about running away, but they always wanted to know where I'd been when I got back."

"Yeah well, um, I don't exactly have a family," Emma said quietly. She turned her face away from Leo.

"Oh," Leo said. He stopped and looked at her. "Gods, Emma, I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's fine," Emma said. She stopped too and stood next to him. She still didn't look at him. The mud splatters on her shoes were suddenly extremely interesting. "I've lived in an orphanage or a foster home my whole life. They probably spent about an hour looking for me and then something more important came up. They don't even care anymore." She crossed her arms over her chest self-consciously.

"Hey," Leo said. He gently grabbed her chin and lifted her face so she looked at him. "It's okay. I've been alone since I was eight. I totally get it. I ran away from six different foster homes before they decided to stick me in reform school. But now I'm here, and I have a family again. I promise things will be better."

Emma stared at him with her big blue eyes. She nodded slowly and smiled. "Thanks, Leo," she said. They started walking again.

They crossed the bridge and started up the path. Emma trudged up the steps for the second time since her arrival in camp. This time though, there was a man in a wheelchair sitting on the porch. He had a game of solitaire spread out on a card table in front of him. There was a chair on the other side of the table, but it was unoccupied. It's seat was worn, however, as if it frequently did have someone in it. He studied the cards as he rubbed his chin, so intent that he didn't notice he had visitors.

Emma stood a few steps behind Leo. He gave her a reassuring smile and then cleared his throat. The man looked up at the teenagers and smiled.

"Hello, Leo. Might this be our newest camper?" the man asked. His voice was soft and deep, his smile sincere. He was so severely different from most of the other people at the camp that she immediately felt relaxed.

"Yes, sir," Emma said. She stepped forward and shook the man's hand. "I'm Emma. I guess I got claimed last night. Daughter of Poseidon I think." She looked back at Leo for confirmation and he nodded.

"Indeed," he said. "I was wondering when we would meet. I'm glad Mr. Valdez thought to bring you up." He offered Leo a grateful nod. "My name is Chiron. I am the director of Camp Half-Blood."

"It's nice to meet you, sir," Emma responded.

"The pleasure is mine, Miss…" he seemed to falter. "I'm sorry, what did you say your last name was?"

Emma blushed and ducked her head. "I don't have a last name, sir."

"I see," Chiron said. "No matter." He looked past her to Leo. "Mr. Valdez, aren't your siblings waiting for your instructions on building the Argo II?" It was obvious that he was trying to politely dismiss the boy.

Leo jumped and smacked his own forehead. "Hades, I forgot! Sorry, sir." He turned and dashed off shouting, "See you at lunch, Emma," over his shoulder.

Once he was gone, Chiron turned his attention back to Emma. "Have a seat, Emma." He gathered his cards together and patted the deck so they were even. "There is something we need to discuss."

Emma pulled out the extra chair and sat. Chiron set his cards to the side and folded his hands in front of him. He studied Emma with the same intensity as he had used to play solitaire. "I'm sure you've experienced," he began, "some…_contempt_ perhaps…from the other campers since you were claimed last night. Am I correct?"

"Yes," Emma agreed. "Some people seemed to absolutely hate me. Did I do something wrong?"

"Oh no, dear. Of course not. It's something out of any of our control." He fell silent, considering how best to word his next question. "Since you've arrived," he said carefully, "have you heard anything of Percy Jackson."

"Leo told me a bit about him," Emma said. "He was a son of Poseidon, which would make him my brother. He was Annabeth's boyfriend, right?"

"Quite," Chiron said. "But there is much more to him than that. During World War II, there was a prophecy. It involved a child of one of the "Big Three," as they are referred to. This meaning Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades. This child was supposed to have an effect on the preservation or fall of Olympus. Because of this, the Big Three vowed to no longer interact with mortal women. But then, along came Percy. He braved many hardships in his life, and his claiming triggered a series of unfortunate events. Battles were fought, and many lives were lost, but in the end Olympus prevailed. And Percy led us all to victory."

He took a breath and closed his eyes. Then he started up again. "Percy was loved by everyone. They all looked up to him. Besides being a great hero, he was a wonderful person. He treated everyone fairly. He was always willing to help. But not long after the final battle, he went missing. We've been searching everywhere and anywhere for the boy, and recently we received a lead and a glimmer of hope. In June, Annabeth, Leo, Jason Grace, and Piper McLean, will be sailing to California in the Argo II. There, we hope that they will not only find Percy, but be able to assist a camp of Roman demigods in battle.

"Up until a few weeks ago, we had almost lost hope of ever finding Percy, and we still don't know why he was taken away. Because of the vow made by the Big Three all those years ago, I fear that many campers believe you are the reason for Percy's disappearance."

"Me?" Emma gasped, pulling away from the table. "But I didn't do anything. I've never even met Percy! I didn't even know I was a demigod until last night." She slumped in her seat and buried her face in her hands.

"Emma, I assure you that these beliefs are completely misconstrued. The most likely explanation is that Percy and Jason were switched to unite the two camps, but some still have a hard time believing," Chiron comforted her.

"Is there anything I could do to change things?" Emma sighed.

"I'm afraid that only time may be able to solve your problem," Chiron answered.

Emma took a deep breath to calm herself. "Okay," she said, "I'll just have to wait and see."

"Good," Chiron said. "Now onto other matters. You know that cabins are organized by godly parent. Each cabin has a head counselor that chooses activities and participates in war councils. Since you are the only camper in the Poseidon cabin, that responsibility falls to you, but also since you are the only one, that responsibility is much less. If you wish, I can give you a list of activities and times and you can decide on your schedule, but as construction of the Argo II began yesterday, and will soon need to be moved, many activities have been cancelled to free up campers to help out."

Without hesitation, Emma asked, "Could _I _help with the construction?"

Chiron smiled and nodded. "Yes, for the time being. After the frame has done up and it has been moved, however, I believe Mr. Valdez plans on finishing the construction on his own. Can you find your way to the building site?"

"Yes, sir," Emma nodded. She stood and stepped out from behind the table.

Chiron turned his wheel chair to shake her hand. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Emma. I hope the other campers can come to know the delightful girl you really are."

Emma said farewell to him and hopped down off the porch, skipping over the steps completely. Her ankle twisted a bit when she hit the ground, but she quickly righted herself and kept moving. She could have sworn she heard Chiron chuckle softly as she stumbled down the hill, but she probably just imagined it.

* * *

Once Emma had crossed the bridge and arrived at the sign post, she looked up at it thoughtfully. She knew she had to turn right and walk down along the shore to get to the Argo II, but for some reason she didn't want to. It might have possibly been because the last time she was down by the water it tried to _eat her_. It could also be because she didn't want to talk to well…_anyone_. So instead she went left. Hadn't Annabeth said something about stables? They had to keep that pegasus she'd seen yesterday somewhere.

As she followed the flow of the water, she came to vast field of dirt that must have been the strawberry plants at some point in time. She continued past the field, along with an arena and an armory. Eventually, she came to the stables.

Emma walked up and pushed the big wooden door open with her shoulder. Inside, there were your typical everyday horses, but stabled beside them were majestic white horses with beautiful feathered wings.

"Woah," Emma breathed she walked inside and let the horse nearest to her sniff her hand. She peered down the aisle, but there was no one else there.

Something at the end of the aisle caught her eye. Down past all the gleaming white pegasi, was something so dark it almost blended into the shadows. She slowly stepped away from the horse she was petting and walked cautiously towards the mysterious figure.

In the very last stall, there stood a pitch black pegasus. Emma approached it slowly and it snorted at her. She took a step back in alarm, but when the creature didn't move again, she moved forward again. "It's okay," she soothed as she approached. "I won't hurt you." The pegasus remained still, and she rested her hand on its snout. She smiled in satisfaction and gently stroked the beast's silky smooth coat.

"_Hey!_" a voice rang out in Emma's head. "_You smell sort of like the boss!"_

Emma spun around and called out, "Hello? Who's there?"

"_Nobody's there, lady," _the voice said. "_There's no one here but us."_

Emma turned back to the back pegasus, her hand still resting on its snout. Realization dawned on her. "You're not talking to me are you?" she asked it, afraid to get an answer.

"_You can hear me?" _the voice cried. "_Oh no, not good. Very not good._"

"Oh my god," Emma wheezed, stepping away from the black pegasus. "The pegasus is talking to me."

"_Yeah," _the pegasus spoke again. "_But you shouldn't be able to hear me. Only the boss can do that."_

"Who's the 'boss'?" Emma asked. "That's the second time you've mentioned him."

"_You've gotta know 'im," _the pegasus said. "_Tall, black hair, green eyes, total hero. Most people call him Percy."_

"You talk to Percy Jackson?" Emma gasped.

"_I _used _to talk to Percy Jackson," _the pegasus corrected her. "_He's missing. I just came back from looking for him. Only the boss can talk to us guys."_

"Us?" Emma asked incredulously.

"_Yeah, us,"_ a new voice said. The pegasus in the stall next to the black one nudged Emma so that she looked up. It made eye contact with her and said, "_It's a child of Poseidon thing. The name's Porkpie. Mr. Mouth over there is Blackjack. He has some special bond to "The Boss."_

"_Hey!" _Blackjack's voice snapped. "_Do _not _disrespect the boss." _

"Well that explains why I'm having a conversation with a couple of pegasi," Emma sighed throwing her hands in the air. If horses could look confused, Blackjack and Porkpie did. "I'm a daughter of Poseidon."

"_Aaaah," _Porkpie nodded. "_Makes sense now."_

"_So you're like," _Blackjack paused to choose his next words, "_the lady boss."_

"I guess you could you say that," Emma smiled.

"_Cool," _Blackjack said thoughtfully. "_You okay if I call you that? Boss doesn't like it much, but I do it anyway."_

"Yeah sure, whatever," Emma said with a shrug. Truthfully, she would have agreed if he had asked to call her "Mabel: Queen of the Goblins." She was just too weirded out from carrying on a conversation with to winged horses.

"_Just so we know," _Porkpie said, "_what's your real name?"_

"It's Emma," she responded. "And I really should be going. I have to go help build the Argo II."

"_Oh, yeah. You better get going. I think that crazy Hephaestus boy can use all the help he can get," _Porkpie agreed.

"Nice meeting you guys," Emma said. She petted Porkpie's snout and then scratched Blackjack behind the ear before turning to leave.

"_Same her, Lady Boss," _Blackjack called after. "_Come on back if you wanna chat!"_

"Don't worry, I will," Emma giggled, waving over her shoulder as she left. She meant it too, Blackjack and Porkpie were some of the nicest "people" she'd met since coming to camp.

And speaking of people, Emma crashed right into one as she rounded the corner out of the stables. "Hey, watch it!" the person cried when Emma bounced off of her and fell to her butt in the dirt.

Emma groaned inwardly. Just what she didn't want, people. "I'm sorry," she said politely, "I guess we should watch where we're going in the future."

"Yeah, I was just in a hurry to," the girl started, but then pushed her hair out of her face and saw Emma picking herself up off the ground. "Oh hey, you're that new girl!" she exclaimed. She held out a hand to help Emma up. "I'm Lanie," the girl smiled from beneath a mane of dark curls. She had a cheerful face with rosy cheeks. She was a couple looked about the same age as Emma inches shorter, which was really saying something because Emma wasn't that tall. "I'm a daughter of Aphrodite. How are you enjoying camp?"

Lanie's cheerful attitude set off warnings in Emma's head. "Proceed with Caution!" the lights blared in her mind's eye. Out of every person in camp, this daughter of Aphrodite was going to be nice to her? Wasn't Aphrodite supposed to be catty? Wouldn't her daughters be the same way?

"Okay," Emma replied carefully. "I met some people, but a lot of them were jerks."

"Yeah," Lanie agreed. "My half-sister Drew was talking bad about you this morning. And just because you're a daughter of Poseidon! So not cool! Piper told her to shut up though." Lanie giggled, as if at some joke that she wasn't sharing with Emma. When she stopped she looked back up and gestured towards the door Emma had just come out of. "The pegasi are pretty cool aren't they. I got sent to get one to help with construction. You wanna come with me?"

"I'm actually headed that way, too," Emma answered.

"Cool!" Lanie said. She flashed Emma that big smile that never seemed to leave her face and bounced into the stabled with Emma following behind. She practically skipped down the aisle, her dark brown curls bobbing up and down on her shoulders. She stopped in front of Porkpie's stall, but said "Hey there, Guido! You ready to do some work?"

The pegasus snorted and shook away from Lanie's hand. "_Hey Emma," _his voice rang out in Emma's head, "_can you tell this chick that she's got the wrong pegasus."_

"Actually, Lanie," Emma said with a chuckle, "that's Porkpie." She reached out to the mis-identified beast and he rubbed his nose against her hand. Emma could have sworn she heard Blackjack's voice snickering in her head.

"Oh, gods, really?" Lanie cried. "Sorry, Porkpie! Well then where's Guido? He's the strongest."

"I don't," Emma said, she turned away from Porkpie and looked up the aisle. "Where is Guido," she said louder, hoping that the pegasus in question would respond."

Thankfully, a new voice burst into Emma's head. "_Opposite row, first pegasus from the door." _The voice was fainter, as if it actually _was _farther away.

"He's down here I think," Emma grinned. She lead Lanie down the aisle to the stall Guido's voice had specified. "Hey buddy," she said and reached out to the muscly pegasus in the stall. He nodded to confirm that it was him and whinnied.

"Wow," Lanie gasped. I really couldn't tell the difference. It's so cool. It's like you have a connection with them."

"More than you know," Emma said, giving Guido a conspiratorial smile.

"Sweet," Lanie giggled. "I can fly Guido, but you wanna try to ride another one down to the construction site?"

"Yes!" Emma exclaimed. She looked around at the other pegasi and wandered back down towards the end of the aisle. Something was drawing her towards Blackjack.

"Oh, not him," Lanie called to her form where she was taking Guido out of his stall. "He won't let anyone ride him. He had some special bond with Percy Jackson."

Emma hesitated, her hand on the latch of Blackjack's stall.

"_Oh, come on, Lady Boss," _the beautiful creature's voice rang out in her head. "_You know you want to."_

"I think I'm okay," Emma called back to Lanie.

The dark haired girl shrugged and said, "Suit yourself." She slipped a lead rope over Guido's head and started back outside.

Skipping the lead rope, Emma followed her knew friend out with Blackjack following obediently behind her. When they stepped out into the sunlight, they followed Lanie over to a wooden fence. Lanie climbed up the horizontal bars so she could hop up and straddle Guido. "Come on," she said, beckoning to Emma.

Blackjack stood beside the fence and Emma swung herself onto his back, wrapping her hands in his mane.

"You ready?" Lanie asked. Emma nodded. "Let's go!" She nudged Guido with her knees and they took off into the sky.

"_You sure you're ready?" _Blackjack asked her again.

"Go for it," Emma replied, leaning down onto his neck.

A spilt second later, they only sign that they still existed was a black streak in the sky.

**Alright, really long author's note time:**

**1) The character I put in towards the end of this chapter, Lanie, is an original character. I didn't accidently spell Lacy wrong, because I know there is ****a daughter of Aphrodite named Lacy. Lacy and Lanie are not the same person. The character of Lanie is based off my friend Lanie because she begged to be in one of my stories.**

**2) Since I started this story, I got and read the Demigod Diaries. I now know that Leo is building the Argo II in Bunker 9. How about we pretend that they started it outside and plan on somehow moving it later. Does that work for everyone? Yes. Good!**

**3) This story, obviously, takes place sometime before the quest for Buford. Let's say this is December first-ish.**

**4) This story may or may not become a part of my long term project for CAS. I'd like to do research on the influence Greek myth has on modern society. I'm supposed to have an end product as part of the project, and if my idea is approved this story would be that end product. I might use the reviews, page visits, favorites, follows, etc. as statistics in my project too. If you don't want your reviews to be part of it, then just let me know and I'll be happy to oblige.**

**5) Now I have a question. Is pegasi plural for pegasus? I think that's what they say on My Little Pony (yes, I am a brony) but I'm not sure. Can someone tell me if I'm right or wrong? I want to fix it if I'm wrong.**

**Alrighty then. I think that's all I have to say! Please review!**


	6. Chapter 5: Fire and Water

**Okay guys I'm back. I'm sorry this took so long, but here it is. I hope you guys are still interested.**

Emma shrieked as Blackjack rocketed them into the air. There was a blur of orange and white as they passed Lanie and Guido and continued to climb.

"Blackjack! What are you doing?" Emma screamed. She clung desperately to the pegasus' neck, praying that she wouldn't fall off and plummet to her death.

"_Chill, Lady Boss_," he replied. "_I'm just getting some height before the real fun starts." _Suddenly they leveled out and Emma took her face out of his black mane. She looked down to discover that they were suspended high above the camp. So high that the campers moving around at the building site were just little orange specks. "_You ready?_" Blackjack asked.

"I'm not really sure how to answer that," Emma replied. She gripped his neck tightly, though, knowing that her answer didn't really matter.

"_Let's get on with the show!_"

Blackjack went into a nosedive, folding his wings against his sides. Emma screamed, sure that they were going to end up as flat as the pancakes she'd eaten earlier. At the last moment, Blackjack extended his wings and swooped up. He did a few aerial loops, Emma's arms still locked in a death grip.

"_Hey, Lady Boss,_" he said. _"Don't mean to point out the obvious, but I can't fly if you strangle me. You don't really even have to hold on. I've got you._"

Slowly, Emma sat up. She let go of the pegasus and rested her hands on her thighs. They were gliding smoothly through the air. They weren't as high up as they had been before, but still not close enough to make out people's faces.

"Emma!" a startled voice called out. Emma turned her head to see Lanie and Guido coming up fast behind them. "Are you all right? I told you not to pick that one!" Lanie's face was creased with worry as she pulled to a stop beside Emma.

"I'm fine, Lanie, I swear," Emma assured her. "Blackjack was just showing off. He wouldn't let me fall." She stroked her mount's head affectionately.

Lanie still looked disbelieving. "Okay. Let's go down now, anyway."

Emma was disappointed, but she nodded and prompted Blackjack into a descent. They touched down a ways off from the building site and the girls dismounted.

"I'm gonna head over, okay? Why don't you send him back to the stables," Lanie suggested. She turned and led Guido towards the construction, leaving Emma with Blackjack.

Once they were gone, Emma turned to the pegasus. "Thanks for the ride, Blackjack. It was actually pretty fun."

"_No problem. I always like an opportunity to show my stuff. I go back out on patrol tomorrow, so come by later and I'll take you for another ride, 'kay?" _he replied.

"Sure. I'd love to," Emma grinned.

"_Sweet! See ya later!" _Black jack spread his wings and took off again, streaking back to the stables.

Emma watched until he was out of sight, then turned and walked in the direction Lanie had gone. She emerged from the trees into the clearing she had visited yesterday. She looked around for Lanie, hoping that she could offer some instruction. Before she could find the other girl though, a different voice shouted, "Hey, Emma!"

She looked up to see Leo waving at her from a precarious perch on the frame of the ship. Emma smiled and waved back then jogged over.

"That was some fancy flying," Leo commented. He dropped down the ground, stumbling on impact but managing to stay upright. "Guess you found the stables, huh."

Emma laughed and nodded. "Yeah, my pegasus of choice was a bit of a show off."

Leo laughed, too. "So what're you doing over here? I thought you were going to ask Chiron for a schedule?"

"I did. He said I could come work with you."

"Awesome! This is where the fun happens!" Leo pumped his fist in the air. "Come on, you can help me out up here." He took her hand and pulled her to the back of the ship, where a ladder had been built into the frame. He gestured to it with a bow and said, "Ladies first."

Emma stepped on to the lowest rung and started climbing up. Once she got to the top, she discovered that the deck floor hadn't been put in yet and the few kids that were up there were just walking around on the beams. She pulled herself into a slightly wobbly kneeling position. When she felt steady enough to stand, she slowly took a few steps to the left so Leo could come up behind her.

"We're still working on putting the floor in," he explained. He heaved himself onto the beam at the top and stood up immediately. He noticed Emma standing there with her arms held out to her sides like a tight-rope walker, swaying back and forth. "You okay?" he asked, trying to mask the laughter in his voice.

"I have absolutely no sense of balance," she gasped, trying desperately not to fall.

Leo stepped towards her with ease and placed his hands on her hips. "Don't worry, I've got you," he soothed. "Just turn around and move forward, I won't let you fall."

Emma did as she was told and slowly started to shuffle towards the bow. Once she stepped on a stray nail and her foot slipped out from under her. She let out a surprised squeal and fell backwards into Leo. He wrapped his arms tight around her waist and caught her against his chest. "I've got you," he said, more to calm himself than to assure her. He got her back on her feet and they continued on.

The pair arrived at the bow and Leo carefully stepped around Emma so he was in front. He hopped over to the other side, still holding her hand to keep her steady. "Have a seat," he offered.

Emma crouched down slowly, still clutching Leo's hand for balance, and sat so she was straddling the beam. Once she was safely seated, Leo released her and sat, too.

"So what're we doing?" Emma asked.

"We are installing the mount for Festus' head. The head itself won't go on until it's finished, but the mount needs to be there now."

"What do you need me to do?"

"_Sit there and look beautiful," _is what Leo wanted to say, but he bit it back, knowing that while he might find it funny, past experience showed that most girls didn't. Instead he decided to say, "I just need you to hold the mount still while I attach it."

"Cool, easy enough." Emma scooted forward on her beam and placed both hands on the piece of metal Leo had pointed to, holding it in place.

Leo reached into his tool belt and pulled out a drill. Emma's eyes widened at the sight, but she didn't say anything. Leo went to work drilling holes in the wood and screwing the mount onto the ship. He muttered and hummed to himself as he worked, and Emma smiled, holding in her giggles so as not to distract him.

At one point Leo swung down onto the beam below the one where he and Emma were sitting and started working from the bottom. With Leo down below her, Emma couldn't hear the sounds he was making any more, aside from the occasional curse that drifted up to her. She slowly started to zone out, thinking about random things like what her old friends were doing, if they even realized she was gone anymore. Eventually she got around to thinking about Percy. What was her half-brother like? She'd never had family before, and now all of a sudden she had a brother who was MIA. Where was he? Would they find him? When she finally got to meet him, would he like her or would he hate her as much as the other campers did? There was no way to know, but somewhere deep inside herself Emma had this strange feeling that she and Percy would probably get along really well.

Emma was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice when Leo switched over to her side on the plank below. Noticing that his companion wasn't paying attention to him, Leo decided to have a little fun. He slowly grabbed the beam above him in front of her knees, careful not to touch her and draw her attention. When he was sure that she was still off somewhere else, he jumped and hoisted himself up, shouting "Hello!" as he did so.

Emma yelped in surprise and scrambled back away from him, letting go of the mount she'd been needlessly holding in place. She composed herself as Leo pulled himself up and say in front of her, laughing hysterically. "You should have seen your face!" he wheezed between giggles.

"Leo!" Emma scolded. "That wasn't funny, you really scared me." She tried to look stern and angry, but she couldn't help but smile at how cute Leo looked when he laughed.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. You were just staring off into space like there was something really interesting going on in that tree over there." Leo eventually managed to calm himself and regain his breath. He looked up at the face Emma was making at him. Her eyebrows were furrowed like she was truly angry, but the corners of her lips were twitching, fighting to pull up into a smile. "Aw, come on, just smile," Leo begged. "You look so pretty when you smile."

Emma blushed and ducked her head, smiling down at the ground. "Thanks," she said softly without looking up.

Leo nudged her knee with his and she looked up at him, her smile widening. "There it is!" he cheered, reaching out and giving her shoulder a gentle shake.

Emma laughed and shoved him lightly. "Knock it off," she said. "You don't mean that."

"Of course I do!" he exclaimed. "Why can't you see how beautiful you are? I can, though, so just believe me."

Emma blushed again and let her hair fall in front of her face, hiding her pink cheeks. "Do you have to finish attaching that last section?" she asked in an attempt to change the subject.

Leo looked back over his shoulder at the partially installed mount. "Oh yeah!" he cried, turning around to face it. He moved to begin working, but realized that he'd left his drill down below when he'd jumped up to scare Emma. "Crap," he muttered, peering down at it. He started to shift himself around so he could go get it, but Emma grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"I'll get it," she offered. She slowly lowered herself down and grabbed the drill. She handed it back up to Leo and he smiled gratefully. He went back to work and she stayed where she was and leaned back against the vertical beam.

Emma watched Leo as he worked. His lips were constantly moving although the words were being drowned out by the sound of the drill. He pulled screws from his tool belt as he worked.

"Done!" he exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air. He flipped open one of the pockets on his tool belt and shoved his drill back in.

"How does that work, anyway," Emma asked, still leaning against the upright beam.

"Not sure," he said, peering down at it. "I found it when I got here, and anything that will fit in the pockets will come out, I just have to think about it. It can even give me the stuff to make tacos!"

Emma laughed. "Cool. You might just have to make me some tool belt tacos some time."

"Yeah, I might," Leo smiled. They stood there, just looking at each other for a moment. Then, unfortunately, a shrill whistle split the air and Leo jumped, nearly stumbling off the beam and plummeting to the ground.

"Lunch Break!" someone shouted from below.

Leo regained his balance, his cheeks turning pink from embarrassment. "We should go," he said. He turned so he was facing away from the ship and jumped, falling and landing on his feet. "Come on," he shouted up to Emma.

Suddenly, she was nervous again and clutched the beam she'd been leaning on. "I – I can't," she called down. "I'll just go back to the ladder." She started to shuffle back the way they'd come, but Leo shouted for her to stop.

"Just jump," he urged. "It's not that far, and I'll catch you. Come on!"

Emma looked from the safe ladder in the distance and down to Leo and back again. She took a deep breath, hoping that she could trust Leo as much as she thought she could. And then, she jumped.

As Emma fell through the air, she felt like she was moving in slow motion. Her hair flew up around her face and her shirt was blown up so that it was more like a bikini top. All of a sudden, she stopped. She opened her eyes again, and found Leo's face right in front of her. He was grinning that cock-eyed grin of his as he held her.

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" he said.

Emma laughed and blushed, acutely aware of his arms around her. "No, I guess it wasn't. Thanks, Leo."

"Happy to help." He smiled back at her. When he too realized that he was still holding her, he blushed, too. He quickly released her and took a step back. "Sorry," he muttered quietly.

Emma murmured something that might have been, "It's okay," but might have also been, "It's pancakes." So Leo couldn't really be sure.

"Come on," he said, nodding in the direction that everyone else was going. "Let's go to lunch."

* * *

That night, the Apollo cabin rallied their fellow campers for a campfire and sing-along. When Emma heard what was going on, she tried to slip away from the tide of people headed across the stream to the amphitheater. She was almost positive that no one would even know she was missing.

She was wrong.

Emma tried to slip out of the crowd and make a dash for the cabins, but suddenly there was a pair of arms around her waist. "And where, may I ask, are you going?" her captor laughed as he whirled her around so she could see him.

Of course it was Leo. Emma rolled her eyes and replied, "I'm trying to escape the embarrassment of a sing-along. Oh, and not just any sing-along, a sing-along with a giant fire and a bunch of people that hate me." She smiled and nodded sarcastically.

"Pfft," Leo said, waving her worries away. "They don't hate you enough to kill you! Enough to maim you possibly, but definitely not kill you." Emma raised an eyebrow at him. "And don't worry about the fire," he continued, "as long as you're with me, consider yourself fire-proof."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emma asked.

Leo held up a finger and took a few steps away from her. "Because while all of us here are freaks of nature," he snapped his fingers and a flame danced to life in the palm of his hand, "I am the _freakiest _freak of them all."

"Whoah," Emma gasped. "This totally beats the magic tool belt."

"Mmm-hmm," Leo agreed. He closed his fingers over the flame, extinguishing it. "It comes in handy." Emma reached out and took his hand in her own. She pulled back his fingers and peered at his palm.

"Not even any ashes," she murmured.

Leo laughed. "Nope. Now come on, you can sit with my cabin." He latched their hands together and started off after the tail end of the rest of the camp.

The two of them spent the night laughing and tossing marshmallows at each other. By the time everyone was heading back to the cabins, Leo had melted chocolate smeared on his face and there was a gooey marshmallow stuck in Emma's hair. They had had so much fun that they didn't even notice Leo's sibling scooting farther away from them by the minute.

Leo walked Emma back to her cabin. The giggling duo pushed open the door and Emma flicked on the light. The first thing she noticed was that there was aknew bed on the wall opposite Percy's. It was neatly made with the blue silk sheets and fluffy comforter turned back.

"Where'd this come from?" Emma exclaimed. She ran over to it and ran her hand over the sheets.

"Remember after lunch when I said I had to go get a special tool from Bunker 9?" Leo asked as he came up behind her.

"Yeah," Emma replied, looking up at him.

"Yeah, well I lied," he said with a shrug. "I decided to get my favorite daughter of Poseidon her own bed."

"I'd be a lot more flattered if I didn't know I wasn't the only daughter of Poseidon," Emma smiled, "but thanks."

"Don't mention it," he said. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a sideways hug. "I owed you one. You saved my dragon and my sanity."

Emma giggled. "How could I forget."

They stood in silence for a moment, then someone outside shouted, "Lights out!"

"Guess I better get going," Leo sighed. He released Emma and walked out, calling, "Have fun with that marshmallow!" as he left.

* * *

Emma shuffled out of her cabin the next morning determined not to miss breakfast again. Her hair was still damp from the hour and a half she'd spent washing the marshmallow out the nice before. She yawned as she trudged up the hill to the dining pavilion. Surprisingly, she found that she actually wasn't the first to show up. Lanie was sitting at the Aphrodite table, her head laying on the hard marble slab. Emma approached cautiously, not really sure if Lanie was even alive.

"Good morning?" Emma said quietly, stepping forward and poking the other girl's shoulder.

"Huh?" Lanie gasped. She shook her head and gazed up at Emma. "Oh, hey, what's up?"

"Didn't want to miss breakfast," Emma explained. "You?"

"Cabin gets a little tense in the morning," Lanie shrugged. "Have a seat." She patted the bench next to her and Emma sat. "Ever since Piper challenged Drew and took over as head counselor, things have been a little weird. Don't get me wrong, I love Piper, but it's weird to hear them try to charmspeak each other every morning. Drew always starts it, but once the charmspeak starts Piper can't help but fight back." Lanie sighed.

Emma nodded.

"So," Lanie grinned slyly, "I saw you at the campfire with Leo last night. Seems like you were having a pretty good time."

Emma blushed. "I really like him," Emma admitted. "He was the only person that was nice to me after I was claimed."

"He's a good guy," Lanie agreed. "He tried to hit on me a while ago, you know."

"Really?" Emma's eyes widened.

"Eeyup," Lanie nodded. "Used a lame pick-up line and everything. He's asked out every girl in camp it seems like."

Emma's heart sank. She thought Leo was her friend, but if he'd asked out every girl in the camp, he could just be desperate. Did he even…?

Lanie interrupted her train of thought. "There's something different about you though," she said thoughtfully. "Not just that you didn't immediately shoot him down like the rest of us did."

"He didn't even ask me out," Emma mused. "It was like he just wanted to be there for me and make sure I was okay."

"And there it is!" Lanie cried. "He didn't just jump at you. He got to know you first. And it worked. You _want _him to ask you out."

"What?" Emma gasped. "I – what're you – I don't…"

Lanie held her hand up. "Don't even try to deny it. Children of Aphrodite know these things. I think you two would be cute together, but my sister Lacy is worried about it. She says it won't work because you're water and he's fire. She thinks you'll hurt each other. But everyone else agrees with _me_."

Emma was still thinking about this as more early risers straggled in. She thought about it some more as she ate breakfast. And some more as she walked down to the building site with the others. And then she had to stop thinking because Leo was there.

He was standing below the mount they'd installed the day before. Other campers were putting wood on the sides so it didn't look like a skeleton of a boat anymore.

"Morning," Emma said was she walked up next to him.

Leo looked over at her and smiled. "Morning." He turned back to the ship. "This went a lot faster than I thought it would. In a couple more days we should be ready to move it to Bunker 9. Then I'll be on my own."

"Oh," Emma said. She thought she was going to get to work with Leo for a while. But if he planned on moving and working by himself soon, she was going to be on her own with a bunch of hostile and heavily armed demigods. Fun.

"Let's get to work then," Leo declared.

The two of them joined the others in constructing the outside of the Argo II.

* * *

Work continued for a few days, but one night they all left for dinner and the energy in the air was a bit different. Nothing had been said, but somehow everyone that had been working on the Argo II knew that it was done. It was going to be moved and Leo would take over. Emma was a little worried about that. The ship was _complicated_. He was planning all kinds of special features, magical additions, and it was going to _fly _for gods' sake! He had to get all of that done, by himself, by June? Emma didn't want to underestimate him, but it seemed impossible.

The next morning when Emma woke up, she just knew. It was done. Her time with Leo was up. Before she went to breakfast she headed down to the building site. There were a few other people standing there gaping.

Everything was gone. The Argo II, the equipment, everything. Leo had somehow moved it all in the night. Slowly, the gawkers made their way up to the dining pavilion, where the rest of the camp was already gathered for breakfast.

Emma noticed Leo sitting at the Hephaestus table with his siblings. They were all talking except Leo, who looked dead tired. Emma walked over to him and shook his shoulder. Her sat up with a start and looked at her with bleary eyes.

"You did it," she said, gesturing the direction of what used to be the building sight.

"Uh-huh," Leo said through a yawn. "Took all night, but I had a little Hephaestus magic to help me out."

Emma smiled and patted him on the back. "Well, congratulations."

**Okay, so I know this chapter is shorter than the last few, but I've already got a good bit of the next one written so I cut this one off here. Keep in mind that this is before the Quest for Buford, probably a week or so until that happens. I seriously can't pick up Windex or Pledge without laughing out loud.**

**Okay, so read Mark of Athena when I was home sick one day. I finished the last Annabeth chapter and through the book across the room. Then I went and picked it up because I wanted to read what Leo had to say. If anyone would like to spazz about it with me, send me a PM and I'd be happy to talk to you.**

**Please Review!**

**Toodles!**


	7. Chapter 6: All I Want for Christmas

**Two chapters in one day, go me! This one is the longest yet and has some action in it. I hope you like!**

Emma laid awake in her bed, unable to sleep. She tossed and turned. She counted sheep. She said the alphabet backwards. Nothing. Even in the pitch dark, her mind couldn't be still. And she knew what the problem was.

With a sigh, Emma threw back her silk sheets. She shuffled over to Percy's desk, praying to the gods that she wouldn't walk in to anything. Her knee bumped against the desk chair so she stopped, moving her hands through the air in front of her until they found the desk. She felt along its surface for the desk lamp and flipped it on, the change was so sudden that she was forced to cover her eyes until they adjusted.

When she could finally see, she proceeded to open the drawers one by one until she found what she was looking for. She pulled a thick notebook out of the desk and flipped it open. The first few pages were filled with notes, a lot of them horrendously misspelled. The dates were sometimes months apart. It appeared that her half-brother wasn't exactly a star student.

Emma selected a pencil from the tin can Percy stored them in and went back to her bed. She crossed her legs and set the notebook in her lap. She squinted at the paper and chewed the eraser of the pencil, unsure of what to do.

Emma sighed and looked away from the paper. She glanced across the room at the window. Outside, she could see the cabins across the way. Since Christmas Eve was just two days away, the Hermes cabin had taken it upon themselves to string lights on every cabin, giving extra care to completely wrap the Hades cabin in twinkling pink ones. She had found inspiration.

She put pencil to paper and started to draw. The paper was quickly filled, so she flipped the page and started on the back. She drew and drew. When she had finished the cabins she could see out the window, she tried to draw the others from memory. When she ran out of cabins, she started to draw Percy.

Glancing up at the picture of him and Annabeth as she worked, Emma filled page upon page with her half-brother's face. She drew him sad and happy, scared and laughing, angry and determined. She drew one picture of her with him. She couldn't really tell from the picture, but she assumed he was tall, unlike her. As she sketched his face, she began to see what Leo had pointed out to her on her first night at camp. They did have the same nose and smile. And without the color in their hair or eyes, they looked even more alike.

Eventually, Emma found that she could barely keep her eyes open to draw. Groggily, she closed the notebook and slid the pencil into the spiral. She shuffled over to the desk, set it down, and switched the lamp off.

* * *

The next day, Emma came to lunch with her sketchbook tucked under her arm. She had come from arts and crafts, where she'd spent the whole time drawing people in her notebook. She was a bit early, so there was no one else there yet. She sat down at the Poseidon table and started drawing again.

Emma was startled from her work a few minutes later when someone tugged on a lock of her hair. She looked up to find that the pavilion was quickly filling up as more demigods took their seats. She looked to her right in search of whoever had pulled her hair and saw Leo smiling and waving as he breezed past with his siblings.

Ever since the Argo II had been moved to Bunker 9, Leo had been working on it on his own. A lot of the time he left right after breakfast and worked through lunch, not eating again until dinner. Some days he took some food with him, and extremely rarely he came back and ate in the pavilion for lunch.

"Hey," he said to Emma now, releasing the piece of hair he'd been pulling on.

Emma smiled at him and said, "Hi." He waved and continued with the flow of people until he reached his table down the row. He sat on the far bench so he could still see Emma. She caught him looking so he made a face at her, making her laugh.

After they had "sacrificed" some of their lunch to their parents, Leo started talking to his siblings and Emma went back to her drawing.

When lunch was over, Leo was sitting and chatting with his sister Nyssa before heading back to Bunker 9. He glanced up for a moment and noticed Clarisse and a couple of her over-grown sisters making their way towards the Poseidon table, where Emma was still sitting with her head bowed, drawing away.

"Hey, kelp face," Clarisse said, sliding onto the bench across from Emma. Her sisters snickered, but Emma didn't even seem to hear. "Hey, look at me when I'm talking to you," Clarisse snapped. She reached across the table and snatched Emma's notebook away from her.

"Give that back," Emma commanded, lunging forward to get it. "Please, it's personal," she begged.

Clarisse simply leaned away from her and began flipping through the pages. "What the heck is this? Sure as Hades isn't art. Looks like something a five year-old drew in art class."

"Just give it back," Emma pleaded.

Leo extracted himself and rushed over to help. "Hey, Clarisse," he said, "I think it finally get it. You're so ugly because your dad's sacred animal is a wild boar. That's why you have a pig face!" He threw his hands in the air in excitement at this epiphany, but Clarisse didn't seem amused.

"Laugh all you want, Valdez," Clarisse growled. "It won't change the fact that you're nothing but a screw up." She tossed the notebook to one of her sisters, who grabbed all of the pages in one hand and ripped them out.

"No!" Emma cried, tears springing to her eyes. She pushed herself off the bench and jumped over the table.

Clarisse's sister flicked the pages into the air. They scattered and rained down like confetti.

Emma gasped and dropped to her knees, scrabbling around to collect the papers before the cold December wind whisked them away.

"Later, losers," Clarisse called. She and her sisters walked away, leaving Emma and Leo alone in the pavilion.

Leo got down on the ground and crawled over to Emma gathering papers as he went. There were a ton of them. He tucked what he had under his arm and got up to collect the ones on the other side. He scraped a few off the ground and grabbed one out of the air as it was swept away, then started back to Emma.

He flipped through the pages as he went. He had no idea what Clarisse had been talking about, because the drawing were amazing. As he came to Emma's side, he told her so.

Emma gave a bitter laugh as she took the papers from him and added them to the ones she had, completing the pile. "It would appear that Clarisse disagrees." She swiped at her eyes, trying to hide her tears. They kept falling though.

"No, Emma, really," Leo said. He sat down next to her on the floor pulled the papers into his lap. The page on top was filled with some sketches of cabins. "Look," he pointed to one on the bottom labeled "Demeter." "The flowers look so real." He shifted some of them around and came up with one of people.

"Oh, wow, these are even better." He traced his finger from one sketch to another. The one of Grover "showed that he was anxious about something." The one below it, Annabeth, "let all of her pain show through." An extremely detailed one of Lanie got a, "Gods, how long did it take you to draw all that hair?"

Leo flipped through some more of them, commenting here and there. Finally he got to the last few sheets. They were filled with one person: him. The first one was of the face he'd made at Emma at the beginning of lunch. It was the most detailed. There was one drawn from below where he was biting his lip and squinting his eyes as he was concentrating on something. Each one was labeled in tiny letters. "Making me laugh," "Working on the Argo II," "Teasing one of his siblings." There were about three pages of just Leo.

"Look at this handsome devil!" he exclaimed, slapping the paper. "You captured his exquisite features like only a master could!"

Emma laughed out loud and punched Leo's shoulder before snatching her drawings back. "Knock it off," she giggled.

"Hey, you're not crying anymore, right?" he said, bumping her knee with his own.

Emma blushed and nodded.

"Then my work here is done." He brushed his hands together and got to his feet. "Where you goin' next?"

"Uuuuum," Emma pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and looked at it. "Canoe racing."

Leo snorted. "Really? The daughter of Poseidon is going to race canoes? Doesn't seem fair somehow." He held his hand out to her. "Come with me instead."

Emma gave him and incredulous look, but let him pull her to her feet. "Am I allowed?"

"I'm the supreme commander of the Argo II, as long as you're with me you can do whatever the heck you want. Come on." He grabbed her hand and took off, pulling her behind him.

Leo dragged Emma down the hill and past the canoe lake. Lanie called out to them as the hurtled past, but Emma didn't have time to respond before they were out of earshot.

They came up to the stables and Leo threw open the doors with a bang, sending a very startled son of Iris three feet into the air.

"Sorry, Butch!" Leo called.

"So gonna kill you, Valdez," the boy growled.

"Nice seeing you, too, old pal," Leo teased. He brought Emma to the pegasi and said, "Choose your mount."

Emma immediately unlatched Blackjack's stall.

'_Hey, Lady Boss,' _the Pegasus' voice greeted her. '_Nice to see ya.'_

"Nice to see you, too, Blackjack," she replied.

"You talk to the pegasus?" Leo asked,

"Eeyup," Emma nodded. "Child of Poseidon thing. Apparently Percy could do it, too."

"Why not?" Leo shrugged. "Let's go." He led Porkpie out of the next stall and hoisted himself up using the stall door. Emma did the same.

"Please no tricks," Emma said quietly to Blackjack as they trotted outside. "I don't know where I'm going this time. We need to follow Leo and Porkpie."

'_Alright, alright,' _Blackjack mumbled. '_We'll follow Captain Killjoy.'_

Emma rolled her eyes, relieved that only she could hear what Blackjack was thinking.

Porkpie stopped and Blackjack brought Emma up next to him. "Ready to go?" Leo asked.

"Let's," Emma agreed.

Porkpie took off and Blackjack followed suit. The pegasi soared over the woods. The chill in the winter air made Emma wish she had a jacket, but soon they were descending again.

They came to the ground in front of a mountain. Leo dismounted and came over to Emma and Blackjack. He held his hand out to her and she took it before sliding down.

"Where are we?" she asked, looking around.

"At the moment," Leo replied, "we're in the middle of the forest. But in just a second…" He stepped up to the mountain and pressed his hand against the stone. Flames leapt from his hand and spread across the rock in tongues. There was a loud groan and suddenly the side of the mountain was pulling away.

"Welcome to Bunker 9," Leo said. He bowed and gestured for Emma to enter.

Emma walked in slowly, trying to process what she was seeing. She'd thought Leo's underground bedroom was impressive, but this place was amazing! It went on father than she could see. Factory light hung from the rafters, shedding light on the Argo II below. Festus's head gleamed on the end of a conveyor belt and a glittering banner that read "Bunker 9" hung above it all.

"This is amazing," Emma breathed, turning to look back at Leo.

He smiled. "It is, isn't it?" He came inside but left the door open so they could still see the pegasi. "Hang on a sec." He stepped past her and shouted, "Hey, Buford, we have company. Come and meet her."

"Who's Buford?" Emma asked.

There was a clanking sound and a mahogany table appeared from around the corner. He walked over and stopped at Leo's side.

"Emma, this is Buford." Leo smiled at the shocked look on Emma's face. "Buford, meet Emma."

The table bowed and released a hiss of steam from a vent on its side.

"Hello, Buford," Emma said nervously.

"He likes you," Leo said. He took Emma's hand and held it out to Buford. Buford took a step forward and raised himself up so his tabletop pressed against Emma's palm.

"He's a magical robot," Leo explained. "I found him when I got here. There was a bunch of cool stuff in this place that was just sitting around rusting." The two of them looked down at Buford.

"Come see what I have done so far," Leo commanded, he released Emma's hand and took off towards the ship, his ADHD taking over. Emma hurried to follow him. They ducked through a hole in the side and into the heart of the Argo II. In the center Leo had constructed a giant metal thing. "This is the engine," he said, patting it affectionately. "It's some of the most advanced technology ever built. The whole ship will operate through here." He moved his hand and pointed to a section in the middle. "This is the syncopator. It keeps all the chemicals and stuff balanced. If I left it out for too long, it could blow up the whole camp."

"Seems dangerous," Emma commented. "I mean, what if it got lost?"

"I've got a backup," Leo said. "I keep it in Buford, just in case." He looked down at the table where it stood at Emma's side. "I should get to work," he said, "but you're welcome to stay and draw if you want."

Emma smiled. "I think I might."

Leo took his tool belt out of one of Buford's drawers and went to work on the engine.

Emma slipped a pencil from her pocket and found a seat inside the hollow hull of the ship where she could still see Buford and Leo. She spent a while drawing Buford and then went back to drawing Leo.

After a good amount of time, Emma ran out of paper. She glanced out the still open door of the Bunker and discovered that it was getting dark. "Hey, Leo, what time is it?" she asked.

Leo put down in tools and reached into the belt, pulling out a watch. "Uuum, almost five," he said. "Wow, have we really been here that long? It's almost time for dinner."

"Do you want to head back?" Emma asked, she was already closing her notebook.

"Or," Leo grinned, "I could make us some tacos."

Emma smiled and nodded. "That sounds delicious."

Leo set about making tacos. He led her out of the ship and over to a somewhat clear work table. "Want some music?" he asked.

"Why not?" Emma hopped up and sat on the edge of the table. Leo reached into his belt and pulled out a remote. He pressed a button and a Beatles song started blast from overhead speakers.

When the tacos were done, the two of then sat on the floor and ate.

"Thanks for bringing me out here, Leo," Emma said. "It was way better than being back at camp."

"It was nice to have company for once," Leo said through a mouthful of taco, making Emma laugh.

When they were finished with their dinner and had cleaned up, it was almost time for lights out. Before they left, Leo said he needed to clean Buford. "I'll just be a minute," he said. He snatched a rag and a bottle of Windex off of a table and walked over to Buford.

The table shied away when Leo held out the Windex. "Oh, come on, Buford," Leo sighed. "I don't know where the Pledge is and we need to get back. I promise it'll just be this once." He started squirting Buford, who tried to fight back, but Leo held him in please and wiped him down. "See, that wasn't so bad," he said when Buford was clean. He tossed the rag and Windex in the general direction of a table and turned to Emma. "Let's go."

* * *

The next day, Christmas Eve, Leo was nowhere to be found. Emma looked for him when he didn't show up to breakfast. She asked his siblings if they knew where he was, but they said he'd left at sunrise that morning and they hadn't seen him since. She went to ask Piper or Jason if they'd seen him, but no one knew where they were either.

That night at the campfire, there was still no sign of any of them. Without Leo there, Emma didn't want to sit with the Hephaestus cabin like she usually did. None of them had ever seemed to like her. So she sat off to the side by herself while everyone sang Christmas carols with Greek twists.

Suddenly she was surrounded on all sides by people. She looked away from the fire to find Piper, Jason, and Leo smiling at her.

"Why so glum?" Leo asked. "It's Christmas!"

"Yeah," Piper agreed. Jason nodded and held out a plate of Christmas cookies.

All three of them were smeared with mud, had leaves stuck to them, and smelled suspiciously like eggnog.

"Where were you all day?" Emma asked, looking from one person to another. "I looked all over camp for you."

"Remember what I said yesterday about how without the syncopator the engine could blow up the whole camp?" Leo started.

"Yeah."

"Well that almost happened. Buford ran away with both syncopators because I cleaned him with Windex last night," he explained.

"No way!" Emma cried.

"Yep," Piper interjected. "And he needed our help to find him."

"The big problem wasn't Buford though," Jason added. "We ran into some evil Maenads that wanted to kill us."

"We wouldn't have had so much trouble but I didn't even notice Buford was missing until late in the afternoon," Leo finished.

Emma laughed. "Why didn't you ask me? I would've helped."

"I wanted as few people to know as possible," Leo admitted. "I mean, I nearly blew up the camp."

"But we fixed it," Jason said, "and that's all that matters." He took a cookie from the plate and held it up. "I propose a toast to friendship."

Piper took a cookie. "I agree."

Leo and Emma each took a cookie. "To friendship," they said together.

The four of them touched their cookies together and ate them.

Later, Leo was walking Emma back to her cabin. "I'm sorry I didn't ask you to help today, Emma," he said as they walked up the steps to the Poseidon cabin.

Emma shook her head, "Forget about it. It's alright."

They stood in the doorway together, the Christmas lights twinkling overhead. Something caught Leo's eye. He looked straight up. Hanging from the eaves of the roof was a little green plant with red berries. Attached to it was a note that read, "_Love, C+T."_

"What're you looking at?" Emma asked. She followed Leo's gaze and saw the mistletoe hanging above them. "Oh, gods," she whispered. She quickly tried to take a step inside the cabin but an invisible barrier sent her careening back towards Leo. Someone snickered but neither Leo nor Emma could see who it was. "What's going on?"

"Hermes cabin mistletoe," Leo growled. "I've heard rumors, but I'd never seen it. It won't let us leave until we, um…" he blushed, looking away.

"Kiss," Emma finished. "It won't let us leave until we kiss." She stared right up into his eyes. Before she could think about what she was doing, she raised herself up and pressed her lips against his.

Leo's eyes widened. Emma was kissing him. _Emma _was kissing _him_. He couldn't even process this fast enough to kiss her back.

After a moment Emma dropped away. She was heartbroken. He hadn't kissed her back. She took an experimental step backward. Nothing stopped her. She went farther into the cabin and started closing the door. "Merry Christmas, Leo," she whispered, trying to hold back the tears.

Leo snapped out of his shock. Before Emma could close the door he lunged forward and grabbed her. He pulled her close and kissed her again.

Immediately Emma kissed him back. It just seemed so natural, so right. His arms wound around her waist and hers around his neck. In the distance they heard someone whistling, but neither of them even paid attention. For those few minutes, the world was nothing but the two of them.

"Hey, lovebirds," the person shouted, "you might want to breathe!"

They separated with a gasp, for they had been in need of air. Still holding Emma close, Leo looked over his shoulder and shouted, "Buzz off, Travis."

Emma added, "You too, Connor."

There was some angry grumbling but the Stolls emerged from a patch of bushes a ways away.

"Merry Christmas, idiots," Leo called as they trudged away. When they were gone he turned back to Emma, "And a merry Christmas to you, too," he whispered.

"Merry Christmas," Emma whispered back. She gave him one more short kiss and then stepped back into her cabin, closing the door behind her.

Inside her cabin, Emma leaned against the door and slid to the floor. She heard Leo's footsteps and he walked away. She sighed, resting her head against the cool stone. Something glittered in the multicolored light shining in through the window. Emma got to her feet and walked over to her bed.

There, laying on the comforter, was the most spectacular trident. The points were made of celestial bronze that glowed in the darkness. The rest was gold with silver designs and inlaid sea glass. There was a card sitting on Emma's pillow with her name scrawled on the front of it. She shifted the trident to one hand and used the other to pick up the card.

_Hey Emma, _it said.

_I thought a daughter of Poseidon should have a proper weapon. I've never really made a trident, but I gave it my best shot. I really hope you like it._

_Merry Christmas,_

_Leo :-)_

"Oh, Leo," Emma gasped. She dropped the card on the bed and held her trident in both hands. She ran her hand down the staff. "I didn't make anything for you," she mused.

Emma carefully leaned the trident against the wall next to her bed. She opened the drawers of Percy's desk and dug through them until she found another notebook. She looked back at the desk and picked up a framed picture that was sitting there. It was of Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. It was obviously old because Percy and Annabeth looked younger than Emma. But the frame was really big. The perfect size for what Emma was planning. She flipped it over and started prying the back off, muttering, "Sorry, bro. I'll get you a new frame," as she did so.

* * *

The next morning Emma came to breakfast a little later than usual. She'd stayed up late the night before, working by the light of her trident. When she crested the hill and the dining pavilion came into view she saw that almost everybody was already there. Wrapping paper littered the floor. Not everyone gave presents, but some people did.

Emma spotted Leo not sitting with his siblings but standing over by her table. She ran to close the distance that was left between them.

"Merry Christmas!" she said when she reached him.

He looked up at her and grinned. "Merry Christmas." He noticed the brightly colored thing she had tucked under her arm. "What's that?"

She held it out to him. "It's for you."

"You didn't have to do that," he said.

"Yes, I did," Emma countered and pushed it into his hands. "Now open it."

Leo took it from her and ripped away the paper. It was the frame Emma had taken off of Percy's desk. In the frame was a collage of drawings, all of Leo and Emma. They were in chronological order, telling the story of how they met. One of them shaking hands on the day Emma arrived at camp. One of him helping her out of the sand. Emma holding Leo up so he could hobble to her cabin and see Festus' head. Eating pancakes on Percy's bed. Working together on the Argo II. Laughing at the campfire. Looking over Emma's drawings. Her sketching him while he worked on the engine. Eating tacos in Bunker 9. Toasting friendship with Piper and Jason. And finally, kissing under the mistletoe.

"Wow," Leo said as he studied it. "This is amazing, Emma." He looked away from it and up to the overjoyed smile on her face.

"I'm glad you like it," she said. She rocked back and forth on her heels, grinning at him.

"Hey, Leo," Nyssa called, "are you gonna come eat or what?"

Leo replied, "Just a minute." He turned back to Emma. "I love it, thank you. I'll see you later, okay?" He leaned down and kissed her forehead then turned and went to sit with his siblings.

Emma blushed and slid onto the bench. When she looked up she discovered that the entire Aphrodite table (and there were a lot of them) was looking at her. Her eyes met Lanie's and the other girl mouthed, "_I told you so!"_

Emma rolled her eyes and went back to her breakfast.

* * *

After lunch, Emma got her trident from her cabin and headed down the arena to try it out. When she got there, she discovered she wasn't the only one who wanted to get a little practice in.

Annabeth was already there, hacking away at a couple of dummies until straw spilled out of them. Emma stood back not wanting to get in the way of Annabeth's knife.

When she had completely demolished the dummies, Annabeth turned around to grab another from the pile by the entrance and saw Emma. "What do you want?" he huffed angrily.

Emma held up her trident. "I wanted to come and try out my n-"

"Well come back later," Annabeth snapped. "I'm using the arena." She picked up a dummy and marched away.

Emma sighed and turned to leave. She was practically gone when Annabeth called, "Wait!" Emma went back in. Annabeth looked at her and said, "Come back, maybe you'll get to try out that trident after all."

Annabeth tossed to dummy to the side. She sheathed her dagger and strode over to a rack of sword hanging on the wall of the arena. She selected one and tested its weight, then moved back to the center. "Come on, then," she called impatiently, waving Emma over.

Emma stood before Annabeth and suddenly her trident seemed significantly less powerful. She clutched it nervously with both hands.

"Ready?" Annabeth asked.

Emma nodded.

Annabeth swung the sword above her head. Emma caught it with her trident. Emma tried to twist the sword out of Annabeth's hands but she snatched it away too fast. She swung again, aiming for Emma's exposed side. Emma whacked the sword away with the end of the staff. She made a jab for Annabeth's chest, but the older girl blocked it skillfully. She pushed back and knocked Emma off balance. Annabeth lashed out and cut Emma's arm.

"Can you slow down?" Emma panted, blocking another blow. "I've never done this before."

"No, I _can't _slow down," Annabeth spat. "I haven't slowed down since he went missing. If I slow down, we'll never find him." She nearly split Emma's lip, but her blade was whacked away.

"You mean Percy?" Emma asked as she fought. "What does he have to do with it?"

"He has _everything _to do with it!" Annabeth shrieked. "He wouldn't be gone if it wasn't for you!"

"I've never even met him!" Emma screamed back. She caught Annabeth's sword again and reacted faster this time, sending it flying across the arena. "Annabeth, I sweat I had nothing to do with Percy's disappearance."

"Shut up!" Annabeth snatched her dagger and lunged for Emma's throat. Emma may have had the better weapon, but she didn't know how to use it as well as Annabeth could use that knife. Luke's knife.

Emma somehow managed to keep Annabeth at bay, but just barely. Her arm was bleeding heavily where she had been cut earlier, and Annabeth was getting closer every time she struck. Emma knew she couldn't run. Her only hope was to distract Annabeth long enough to get rid of her knife.

"How do you think I managed to get rid of Percy?" she asked.

Annabeth growled and didn't respond.

"I mean seriously," Emma continued, deflecting a jab that nearly went straight through her belly-button, "how could a girl like me even win a fight against a hero like Percy."

Annabeth just continued to fight.

"Unless," Emma said, giving a one last chance, "he's not the hero everyone makes him out to be."

That did the trick. Annabeth lashed out with her free hand and grabbed Emma by the collar. She held her knife to the smaller girl's throat. "Take it back," she hissed.

Emma gripped her trident with one hand. "Gladly," she said. Then she swiped it in front of her as hard as she could, knocking Annabeth's feet out from under her.

Annabeth's feet flew forward and she tipped backwards. She was starting to regain her footing when Emma kicked her in the chest. Annabeth's breath was knocked out of her and she keeled over backwards. Her head slammed against the hard-packed sand of the arena floor, knocking her unconscious.

Suddenly, Emma felt light-headed, too. She staggered backwards. All it took was one look at her arm, coated in blood, and the trail of darkening red splatters that traced the path of the battle to know that she needed to get help.

Unfortunately, what came was anything but helpful.

"What in Hades?" someone shouted. Emma whirled to find Clarisse standing under the arched entryway. "What did you do to her?" she cried. She dashed straight past Emma and over to Annabeth. She lifted her off the ground and looked her over for injuries.

"She tried to kill me," Emma panted, already backing away. She clutched her trident in her good arm as blood continued to flow from the other.

"Yeah right," Clarisse snapped. She got to her feet and advanced on Emma. "I came down here to get my spear," she said, snatching said spear from where it was leaning near the rack of swords, "and as I bonus, I get something to use it on."

By the time Clarisse threw the spear, Emma was already running. She heard it clang off of the archway behind her, followed by Clarisse's pounding footsteps as she ran to retrieve it.

Emma bolted away from the arena as fast as she could, but she could hear Clarisse chasing after her. She had a good head start, but Clarisse could have caught her even if she was at full strength and she was getting weaker by the second. And to make things worse, her adrenaline was wearing off and she was now well aware of the pain in her arm.

"Emma!" a familiar voice called from up ahead. Leo was jogging towards her.

"Run!" Emma tried to call, but it came out as a wheeze.

They met a moment later and Emma shoved him. "Go, go!" she urged, but all he could focus on was her bloodied arm.

"Oh, gods, what happened?" he gasped, inspecting the wound.

"Leo, we have to run," Emma ordered.

To demonstrate her point, Clarisse came barreling around the bend. "Excellent, two for one," the brutish girl bellowed.

Emma grabbed Leo's hand and tried to run, but she was fading fast. She collapsed after a few steps.

"Emma!" Leo caught her before she could fall and held her close.

"That's it, wise guy," Clarisse sneered. "Hold her close; you'll be an easier target."

Leo looked from Emma's limp body, her eyelids fluttering as she struggled to stay conscious, to Clarisse coming ever closer.

"Leo…" Emma wheezed.

Leo moved one arm away from her and held his hand out towards Clarisse. He turned his face away from his target and locked his brown eyes on her blue ones. "Just hang on," he whispered.

Emma saw a bright flash and heard Clarisse scream. Then the world went black.

**Alright, I know I'm going to get criticism for having Annabeth try to murder Emma so here's my explanation:**

**Annabeth has had a hard life. Her father never really loved her. She was on her own at seven. When she finally did have a family, she lost Thalia. Then Luke went to the dark side. She got Thalia back. Then poor Annabeth had to watch Luke kill himself with **_**her **_**knife. Percy was there for her almost the whole time, and then he goes missing. Suddenly his long lost sister turns up and "she's the reason Percy's gone" seems like a much better explanation than, "Hera switched Percy with this Roman kid named Jason, wiped both of their memories, an d made Percy totally untrackable all because she has some master plan to stop Gaea."**

**To me, that seems like enough to make any girl go a little bit crazy.**


	8. Chapter 7: Fun With Hydrokinesis

**My friends, I hath returned for thee! I am so sorry. I have too much going on at one time. I'll try to do better.**

"Come on, Em, wake up," Leo begged. He gazed down at the sleeping girl's face, but her eyes stayed shut. "Emma, please, you're scaring me. Just open your eyes." He curled his fingers around hers, but they remained limp.

Leo sighed. He let his head fall on the mattress next to Emma, still holding her hand tight in his. When he closed his eyes, the events of the last two hours flashed by.

Katie Gardner had told him that she'd seen Emma going to the arena with her new trident, so he was going to go down and watch. Emma had come hurtling around the corner, screaming for him to run. Clarisse followed, threatening to kill them both. Then Emma had passed out. Scared, panicked, and unarmed, Leo had used what he had and blasted Clarisse with a burst of fire. He'd carried Emma up to the Big House and sent Chiron back for Clarisse. They'd found Annabeth a few minutes later when Clarisse was semiconsciously muttering her name.

Now all three girls were in the same room of the Big House, unconscious. Clarisse and Annabeth had both been awake long enough to drink some nectar and choke down a bit of ambrosia. They were sleeping now, and healing fast.

Emma, on the other hand, wouldn't wake up no matter what they tried. They had her connected to an IV, but she was deathly pale. Her hand was clammy in Leo's and she was shivery and sweaty at the same time. Leo was pretty sure they only person shaking worse than Emma was him.

"You're just a magnet for trouble, aren't you, Valdez?"

Leo lifted his head and turned to find Piper standing in the door.

"What do you want, Beauty Queen?" Leo grumbled.

"To see if you're alright," she replied. "I mean, that ship's like your baby. Nothing could get you to leave it for this long. Well, nothing except for…" she swept her arm around the room, indicating the three unconscious girls. "So, what's goin' on in that ADHD head of yours?" She ruffled Leo's hair.

"I'm worried," he said. He twirled a piece of Emma's hair between his fingers.

"Really?" Piper giggled. "That's it? Usually when I ask what you're thinking your mouth starts running a mile a minute."

"It's not funny, Piper!" Leo snapped. "You're right. I am a magnet for trouble, and I dragged Emma right into it with me."

"Hey," Piper snapped back, "There will be none of that. There is no possible way you could blame yourself for this and not sound like a total jerk. So don't even try it." They glared at each other for a minute. "Now," Piper continued. She shoved Leo over so she could sit on half of his chair. "I'm sorry. I know you care about Emma. How's she doing?"

"She won't wake up," Leo mumbled. "I just…" he trailed off, not sure of what to say.

"Let me try something," Piper said. She patted Leo on the shoulder and got up. She went around to the other side of the bed and poked Emma's shoulder. "Hey, wake up," she said.

Clarisse coughed from the bed behind Piper and sat up. "Where am I?" she yawned.

"What the -? I didn't want you to wake up. Go back to sleep," Piper ordered.

Clarisse slumped backwards and started snoring again.

"Sorry about that. Let me try again." Piper leaned down over Emma and whispered in the sleeping girl's ear. "Hey, Emma. I know that you're trying to heal and stuff, but Leo is sitting _right here _and he's pretty worried about you. I think that it's time you wake up, at least for a bit."

Even unconscious, Emma couldn't resist Piper's charmspeak. She gasped and opened her eyes.

"Emma!" Leo cried. "Oh, thank the gods!"

"Leo?" Emma rasped. The hand that wasn't clasped in Leo's moved to her throat, pulling the IV tube with it. She looked down at the bandage wrapped around her forearm. Her eyes followed the tube up to the bag of blood that was flowing into her. "What - what's going on? Where are we?" Her eyes widened and she squeezed Leo's hand. "And why in _Hades _does my arm hurt so much."

"We're in the Big House," he explained. "You lost a lot of blood and passed out. You wouldn't wake up, Piper had to charmspeak you." He turned to the table by the bed and grabbed a glass of nectar with his free hand. "Here drink this. It'll help with the pain."

Emma slipped her hand from Leo's and pushed herself up into a sitting position. She took the glass, held the straw to her lips and took a sip. Suddenly, she was sucking it down like she hadn't had anything to drink in weeks.

"Take it easy," Piper warned, snatching the glass away. "Too much of this stuff and you'll literally burn up."

Emma reached for her drink, but Piper held it away. Emma flopped back against the pillows and pouted. "It tastes good," she muttered. "Like fresh brownies with chocolate chips in them."

Leo laughed. "I know it tastes good. And it'll help you get better, too." He smiled at Emma. "Hey, Pipes, can you go tell Chiron that Emma's awake?"

"Sure," Piper said. She left, ruffling Leo's hair again as she passed.

"How's your arm?" Leo asked Emma. "Did the nectar help?"

"Mm-hm," Emma replied. She reached forward and twined her fingers with Leo's again. "When I was asleep, you were saying that you were scared. I'm sorry, Leo. I didn't mean for this to happen."

"You heard, that, huh?" Leo chuckled nervously. "I know you didn't want this to happen. Who would? I was just _so _worried when you wouldn't wake up. I needed you to be okay."

The clopping of hooves echoed down the hall and Chiron walked up, pausing to knock on the door frame. His bottom half was a white horse, while his top half was that of a man clad in a Camp Half-blood shirt. He was holding a bucket in one hand. "You're awake, I see. Miss McLean has not deceived me." He smiled at Emma as he ducked under the doorframe and entered. He stood beside Leo, setting his bucket down and letting his hand rest on the boy's shoulder. "How are you faring?"

"Not great, but not as bad as I was," Emma replied.

"That is to be expected from one who lost as much blood as you did, my dear," Chiron chuckled. "You're lucky Mr. Valdez was there when you needed him. You could have been much the worse for wear had Miss LaRue reached you before you could find help."

Emma nodded and shot Leo a smile. "I'm glad he came looking for me," she agreed.

Chiron nodded as well. "Now, let's have a look at that arm." He came around the bed and stepped up to Emma's side. He took her arm in his hands as gingerly as he could, but she still winced. Her hand closed so tightly around Leo's that he swore he felt a few bones crack. Carefully, Chiron unwound the bandage to reveal the bloody gash in Emma's arm. It was more healed than it would have been if she hadn't drunk the nectar, but it was still pretty bad.

"Oh, gods," Emma whimpered. Leo flinched, averting his eyes. He couldn't bear to look at the wound.

"Mr. Valdez, would you hand me that bucket?" Chiron mumbled, holding his hand out to Leo.

Leo wriggled his hand from Emma's death grip and bent to retrieve Chiron's bucket. He grabbed it with one hand and could barely lift it. "Holy Hephaestus, that's heavy!" he groaned. He gripped the handle with both hands and hefted the bucket over and across the bed to Chiron. The centaur took it as if it weighed no more than air and set it on the bed by Emma's hip.

"This," he said, situating the bucket so it wouldn't fall, "is a bucket of water that I had Will Solace retrieve from Long Island sound. This is just a hunch, something that worked for Percy, but if I'm correct…" he trailed off. Slowly, he lowered Emma's hand until it was submerged in the water.

As Emma and Leo watched, the wound began to heal. The edges of the gash pulled together. The cut became a pink line that ran the length of Emma's forearm. It faded to a thin white scar, and then disappeared completely.

Emma pulled her hand out of the water and held her arm near her face. "How? What- what just happened?" she gasped.

"The water healed you," Chiron explained. He lifted the bucket and set it at his feet. "It was one of the first abilities your brother discovered. I thought now might be the time to find out if you could utilize it as well."

"There's not even a scar!" Emma exclaimed. "Look, Leo! It's like it never happened!" She stuck her arm in front of his face.

Bed springs creaked across the room. "Chiron?" someone asked.

Chiron turned to look at the speaker. Emma scrunched down closer to the mattress, hoping to go unnoticed. Leo took her hand in his and stood over her protectively.

"Hello, Annabeth," Chiron said quietly. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Annabeth replied. She scanned the room and caught a glimpse of Emma. Her eyes narrowed.

"Annabeth, please," Chiron soothed. "All will be figured out, but we must wait for Clarisse to wake up. The four of you have much explaining to do." He turned his head and said to Leo, "Mr. Valdez, will you go retrieve Miss McLean from the porch. I believe that her services are needed."

"Yes, sir," Leo replied. He released Emma's hand and winked at her reassuringly, then went out. A moment later, he returned with Piper behind him and went back to Emma's side.

"Miss McLean, if you'd kindly wake Miss La Rue. I think it would be best to get all sides of the story."

"Of course, sir," Piper nodded. She moved to Clarisse's side and bent. She whispered in the older girl's ear so no one else could hear her, "Hey, pig face, wake up."

Clarisse bolted up in the same manner she had the first time. She took in the five people watching her. "What're you looking at?" she snapped.

"Calm down, Miss La Rue," Chiron ordered. He turned back to Piper and said, "Thank you, Piper. That will be all."

Piper nodded. She left yet again, whispering, "Good luck," to Leo and Emma as she passed. She closed the door behind her.

"Alright," Chiron began. He backed into a corner so he could see all four of the teenagers staring nervously back at him. Well, Emma and Leo looked nervous, Clarisse was wearing her usual angry glare and Annabeth just looked irritated. "I'd like to know what went on in the arena today."

All three girls opened their mouths and started talking at once. Three jaws snapped shut. Clarisse and Annabeth glared at Emma, who shrank closer to Leo.

"Why don't you start, Emma," Chiron prompted gently.

Emma slowly sat up straighter, still eyeing the other two girls warily. "I – I was going down to the arena because Leo gave me a new trident for Christmas, and I didn't know how to use it so I wanted to go try. I got there and Annabeth was already practicing. She told me to leave, so I started to. Then she called me back and said that I could try out my trident anyway. She got a sword, and I thought she was going to teach me, but she just started attacking. I asked her to slow down, and she just started shouting at me that it was my fault that Percy's gone. And then-"

"It is your fault!" Annabeth shouted, leaning towards Emma. "What else could have-"

Chiron stomped his hoof, effectively silencing her. "Annabeth, we've discussed this. Hera switched Percy and Jason in an attempt to bring the camps together. I know it seems hard to believe, but you have to accept it. Emma didn't even know that she was a halfblood until earlier this month."

"Then why haven't we found him yet?" Annabeth snapped.

"Because the gods don't want us to find him!" Chiron shouted back. "Now that's _enough _Annabeth." He gave her a harsh glare, then gestured to Emma. "Proceed."

"Annabeth cut my arm and I was getting tired. I got her off guard and knocked her down. She hit her head and passed out. Then Clarisse showed up, got a spear and was trying to kill me. I ran and met Leo part way…" she trailed off. "I'm sorry, I can't remember anything."

"That's fine, Emma. You recalled more than I expected you to. Annabeth, is there anything you would like to add?"

Annabeth shook her head, not even looking at Chiron she was so mad. "No," she replied snippily. "That's what happened."

Chiron sighed. "Clarisse? What were you doing in the arena?"

"I forgot my spear down there yesterday," she muttered.

"And why did you attack Emma?"

"She hurt Annabeth. She deserved it."

Chiron sighed again. "Leo, you fired at Clarisse because…?"

"She was going to kill us," Leo replied, nodding to Emma. "I didn't have a weapon, and Emma had already passed out. I didn't know what else to do. If I thought I could do anything else, I would have but…"

"I understand." Chiron rubbed his hand over his face. "Well, it seems that I'll have to decide how to handle this." He looked at Emma. "Are you feeling well enough to go back to your normal routine?"

"Good as new," Emma nodded.

"Good as new," Clarisse mocked under her breath.

Chiron rolled his eyes. "Then you and Mr. Valdez may leave."

"What about us?" Annabeth cried indignantly. "Why does she get to leave?"

"Because her abilities have completely healed her," Chiron snapped back. "You and Miss La Rue, however, are still recovering and will need to stay overnight."

Leo stood quickly and interjected before things got really bad. "Thanks, sir. We'll be going now." He held his hand out to Emma and whispered, "Let's get out of here."

Emma shoved the blanket off of her legs and swung them over the side of the bed. She gratefully accepted Leo's hand and the two of them hurried out.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"You're sure you're alright, Em?"

Emma smiled reassuringly at Leo. "I'm fine, Leo, I promise." The sun setting over the valley was making him glow, even though he wasn't on fire (for once). Emma blushed. "And, thank you, you know, for protecting me. I don't know what I would have done without you."

Leo shuddered. "I don't even want to think about it."

Emma tried to take a step back into the cabin and pull Leo with her, but she was bounced back just as she had been the night before. She and Leo automatically looked up and discovered that the Hermes cabin mistletoe was still there.

"Someone should really take that down," Leo muttered.

"I don't know," Emma shrugged. "I don't really mind. And besides, it's still Christmas."

Leo grinned. "Right you are." He hopped up the few steps between them and bent to kiss her. His hand cupped the back of her neck. She clutched the fabric of his shirt.

Suddenly, Emma shoved Leo away, yelping in pain.

"What's wrong?"

"You burned me!"

Leo looked down at Emma's shirt where his hand had been resting on her hip. Sure enough, there was a hole burned straight through. The air around them smelled like burnt hair.

"Turn around," Leo commanded. Emma turned so her back was to him. He carefully lifted her hair and found that a chunk of it was burned away, explaining the smell. The collar of her shirt was scorched. The skin in both places was red.

"Oh, gods, Em, I'm so sorry," he gasped, leaping away from her.

"Pfft," Emma scoffed. "I'll take it as a compliment." She pulled him close and kissed him again.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

_taptaptaptaptaptaptap_

Emma rolled her eyes at the incessant tapping on her cabin door. She pulled her tooth brush out of her mouth and stuck her head out of the bathroom. "Come on in!" she called through a mouthful of toothpaste.

The door swung open and Leo strutted in. "Mornin', gorgeous!" he called cheerfully. He made his way to Emma as she was continuing to brush her teeth. He plucked the toothbrush from her hand and kissed her on the lips. "Mmm, minty," he commented before handing her toothbrush back. "How're you feeling today?"

Emma spit into the sink and then responded, "Better." She was lying though. In truth, her neck hurt like Hades and pain shot up her side whenever she moved too fast. But there was no way she was going to tell Leo that. It would only make him feel bad.

Emma rinsed her mouth and turned back to Leo. He leaned down to kiss her again and lifted his hand to put it on the back of her neck like he had the night before. She intercepted his hand with her own and twined their fingers together.

Leo stopped moving. "You're sure you're okay?" he questioned.

"I'm fine, Leo. I promise." She stretched up and kissed his cheek, still carefully keeping his hands away from her burns. "Let's go to breakfast."

After breakfast, people were starting to filter out of the dining pavilion while Emma was still picking at her food. Leo slid onto the bench next to her. "Tell me what's wrong, Em," he begged.

"Ares and Athena have been glaring at me all morning," she muttered, not looking up from the mangled sausage patty on her plate.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about them. They're all bark and no bite." He said it even though he knew it was absolutely not true. He just wanted to make Emma feel better.

She saw straight through his lie. "You know that's not true."

Leo was about to respond with a joke but was interrupted.

"Good morning, Emma, Mr. Valdez."

Emma and Leo looked up to find Chiron standing at the end of the table. Grover was at his side, tugging nervously at the fur on his legs. "Good morning, sir," the couple responded together.

"Emma," Chiron continued, "I thought that in response to yesterday's events, now might be the appropriate time to learn about what demigod abilities you have."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"

"I asked Grover if he would help train you to utilize any and all abilities you may have. In Percy Jackson's absence, he is the resident expert on children of Poseidon." Chiron gently nudged Grover forward. The satyr waved at Emma.

"Cool," Emma nodded, smiling at Grover.

"Very well. I'll be off then. And Mr. Valdez, it would probably be best if you went back to work on the Argo II." Chiron nodded goodbye and trotted off.

"He's right," Leo said. "I've gotta get back to work." He leaned over and kissed Emma's cheek. "See ya later." He took his leave as well.

"Guess it's you and me then," Emma said to Grover.

"Yeah," Grover said quietly. "Let's get going." He turned and led the way into the woods.

"Where are we going?" Emma asked as she followed along behind him.

"To the stream. Salt water would work better, but you need to not be distracted," Grover explained.

"Oh," Emma said, and they continued on in silence.

The farther they got into the woods, the trickier the ground was to navigate. There were roots and branches and small plants everywhere. "We're almost there," Grover said. "Watch your step." Then he nimbly leapt a fallen tree.

Emma, however, _wasn't _watching her step. She didn't lift her leg high enough and tripped over the very same tree. She cried out in alarm as she fell.

Luckily, Grover wasn't very far ahead and made it back in time to catch her. Unluckily, he caught her by her burned side.

Emma screamed as pain seared every nerve on the right side of her body. Grover gently lowered her to the ground and hovered over her, looking worried. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" he fretted.

"I'm fine," Emma wheezed from between clenched teeth. "Just – ah! – just have a little burn on my side."

Grover calmed a bit. "Let me see," he commanded.

"Grover, it's fine," Emma countered, covering her side protectively with her opposite arm.

The satyr rolled his eyes. "I won't touch it, I promise. But you have to let me check it."

Emma grudgingly pulled her shirt up just high enough for Grover to see the red welt on her side.

"Gods," Grover gasped. "That is _not _a little burn Emma."

"It's fine!" she snapped, tugging her shirt back down. "It's fine, Grover, just a little bit sore."

Grover stood and held his hand out to her. "Come on. If it's not bad, you can walk a bit farther."

Emma glared at him but accepted his help. He towed her to her feet and she winced. Grover raised an eyebrow and she hissed, "Not a word."

Grover shrugged, released her hand and took off again. Emma hobbled along behind him. They came upon a rushing stream. Grover turned back to her and said. "Go sit in the water. It'll heal your burn." The he went and sat on a rock and started playing his pan pipes.

Emma did as she was told and went and knelt in the water. She pulled up her shirt again. Sure enough, the burn was healing and disappearing completely just like her cut had yesterday. The water made her feel calmer, more relaxed.

The music of Grover's pan pipes cut off. "Was it Leo?" he asked quietly.

"He didn't mean to!" Emma snapped defensively. "It was an accident," she said more quietly. "He felt so bad. _I _felt so bad."

"I haven't known him very long," Grover said, "but to me he seems sort of accident prone."

Emma laughed softly. "Yeah, he is isn't he?"

Grover stood and clopped over to her. "Come on," he beckoned, offering his hand once more. He smiled down at her. "Let's get to work."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"You said Percy did this by _accident_?"

Grover glanced up at her from where he was sitting on the ground and tending to a small plant. "Yeah. He didn't even know he was a demigod when he made the fountain snatch Nancy Bobofit."

Emma looked back at him with a confused expression.

"Long story," Grover said simply.

Emma went back to staring at the stream. She'd been at it for at least an hour, and had done nothing except stop the water flow for a couple seconds. And that wasn't even what Grover had asked her to do. She was supposed to make it lift up out of the stream bed. Apparently Percy could do that.

"In your defense," Grover chimed in again, breaking her concentration, "he was really mad at her. The emotions have a lot to do with it."

"Why was he so mad?" Emma asked, not looking away this time.

Grover blushed. "She was – Nancy was – uh – she was picking on me."

Emma looked away from the water for a moment. "Why would anyone pick on you, Grover? You're such a nice person."

The poor satyr's blush deepened. "I was sent to Yancy Academy to watch over Percy. I had to where fake feet so no one would know what I really was. It made me walk funny. I – I guess I was just an easy target. Percy always stuck up for me." He chuckled sadly and ran his hand through the lush grass. "It's sort of funny, isn't it? I was sent there to watch over and protect him, but it ended up going the other way. I really _didn't _do a good job, did I?"

During his story, Emma had turned around to watch him. "Don't think like that, Grover," she comforted. "You got him here alive. That's what satyrs are supposed to do. Right?"

"Just barely," Grover said bitterly. "I got incapacitated, and we lost his mom. Really, it was all his doing and he nearly died anyway." He swiped at his eyes. "And now Percy is gone. When it happened, everyone wanted me to find him. We've got an empathy link, so we can usually tell if the other person is in trouble. But I failed. I didn't even know where to _start_." He picked up a rock and made to throw it in the stream but froze, his eyes wide. "Emma! Emma turn around, look!"

Emma whirled to see what he was looking at. She'd heard that the woods were stocked with all kinds of monsters. She wasn't armed, and she really doubted that Grover was, unless you counted his Pan Pipes.

Instead of some horrible beast bearing down on them, Emma discovered something quite spectacular. There was a perfect sphere of water floating a few feet above the surface of the stream. There were some rocks and a few minnows swirling around inside.

"Did I do that?" she breathed. She reached out to touch it. When her finger made contact with it, it popped like a bubble and everything fell back into the stream.

"Yes, you did!" Grover exclaimed. He scrambled over to her. "Now try to do it again."

Emma shook her head. "I don't think I can. I don't know how I did it that time."

"You can. Just think about it and make yourself feel like you felt while I was talking," Grover urged.

Emma looked at the water. She thought about little Grover being picked on and little Percy defending him. She thought about her brother, lost, alone. She pictured Leo as a little kid, running away from foster home after foster home.

She squeezed her eyes shut to block away the tears that were threatening to spill out. When she opened them again, she found that her water orb had reformed. She laughed. This time when she touched it her hand sunk right through into the middle. She squeezed her hand into a fist and the ball constricted. She snapped her fingers outward, spreading them completely. The sphere exploded, spraying her and Grover with water and pebbles.

They both covered their faces with their arms. A few pebbles bounced off Emma's arm. When the onslaught ceased she moved her arm and peered out at Grover. He was wet and had a shocked expression on his face.

"Oh, Grover. I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed.

Grover said nothing. And then he started laughing. "What – what are you sorry for?" he choked out between giggles. "That was amazing! Percy did the same thing the first time he did it on purpose. Well, he blew out the plumbing in the girl's bathroom. But it's similar. And this time no one got covered in toilet water!" He collapsed into the grass.

Emma started laughing, too. "Why did he do that?" she giggled.

Grover collected himself and simply laid there staring up at the clouds. "Clarisse tried to give him a swirly."

Emma lay down next to him. "Does Clarisse hate children of Poseidon in general?"

Grover snorted. "Clarisse hates everyone."

They lay in silence for a few moments. Then Emma ended it.

"Hey, Grover."

"Hm?"

"Thank you."

He turned his head to look at her. "What for, Emma?"

"For this," she replied. "And for being nice to me when we met. You certainly didn't have any reason to trust me or like me. But you did. So thank you."

"I didn't have any reason _not _to be nice to you," Grover shrugged. "I know that some people think you're the reason Percy is gone…"

Emma chuckled. "No, really? I hadn't noticed!"

Grover smiled. "Yeah, really! But anyway, I know that he's at that Roman Camp, wherever it is."

Emma turned to look at him. "How?"

Grover shook his head and shrugged. "Maybe it's part of the empathy link, maybe I just trust Jason, maybe it seems like the most plausible answer. I don't know. It's just, when Jason said that, and he had so much good reasoning… Something felt _right_. It's like a piece of the puzzle was being put into place. Something just clicked for me. I knew, somewhere down inside me, that it was true. I can feel it. Somewhere, Percy is okay."

Emma sat and thought about this. She wanted to believe that her brother was safe and with people who he could probably get along with. But part of her wondered: what if it _was_ because of her? It seemed like her brother was some big hero. As was Jason. And she'd heard about two other kids, Nico and Thalia, and they both seemed really important, too. And all five of them were children of the Big 3. Maybe her father had done this, brought her here and claimed her at this moment, because it was her turn.

But for some reason, it seemed really improbable that Emma - clumsy, sensitive, weak, Emma - was destined to be a hero.

**TADA! Little friendly bonding between Emma and Grover. Little bit of Piper and Leo.**

**Did anyone catch my little attempt at humor? I wouldn't blame you if you didn't….**

**Anyways- there's that! Okay, I'll try to write some more, so sorry, please review, yada yada yada….**


	9. Chapter 8: One Long Day

When it came time for lunch, Grover and Emma returned to camp. They exited the forest and joined the mob of campers moving towards the dining pavilion.

"We should keep working after lunch," Grover said as they made their way up the hill. "Emotions seem to have a lot to do with the ability to use your powers. We'll have to figure that out."

"Alright," Emma replied with a smile. "I'll see you then." She waved goodbye as she stopped at her table and Grover kept moving on.

Emma took a seat on the outside bench. Most of the campers were already seated. She stretched her neck and looked over the crowd. She scanned the faces for Leo, but his cock-eyed smile was absent. She shook her head sadly. That boy was going to work himself to death.

After lunch, Grover and Emma returned to the stream. Emma stood in the ankle deep water while Grover made himself comfortable sitting on a nearby rock. They tested to see if other emotions had different effects on her abilities.

There was a stretch of about half an hour where Grover told Emma every joke he knew.

"Where did the goddesses have to go?"

"Where?"

"A Hera appointment!"

"What kind of shoes does a god wear?"

"Sandals?"

"Nope. Tennis Zeus!"

"What sauce did Tantalus put on his food?"

"I thought he wasn't allowed to eat."

"He's isn't, but it's a joke. Play along."

"Okay, what kind of sauce?"

"Tartarus sauce!"

And on and on and on. Some of them were actually funny, but at others Emma only pretended to laugh to spare her friend's feelings. When nothing resulted from laughter, Grover decided they would try a new emotion.

"Try to get angry," he commanded Emma.

"How am I supposed to do that?" she asked.

Grover shrugged. "I dunno. What makes you angry?"

Emma racked her brain. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been _really _angry at someone, not since she got to Camp Halfblood. Mostly she'd just been nervous or terrified the whole time. But as she thought, she recalled a time just a few weeks before she was chased away from the orphanage.

The governess had been out at a free book give away at the local library and had found an old art book. She'd brought it back to the orphanage and given it to Emma for her to look at. She'd been overjoyed, and put it in the trunk where she kept all of her other belongings. One day, she had gone looking for it and had discovered it not tucked away between the sheaves of paper that she'd drawn on, but crumpled and shoved under her bunk. When she'd opened it there had been doodles and scribbles and notes all over the words and pictures. She'd immediately stormed into the middle of the girls' dormitory and demanded to know who had done it. When she'd discovered the culprits, a group of three girls a year younger than her, she'd started screaming at them.

One girl had the audacity to snicker and say it was just a stupid art book.

Emma had promptly silenced her with a punch to the mouth.

All three of the girls had received double chore duty for a week. Emma had been given two weeks of the same.

Emma could feel herself getting mad just thinking about it. "Alright, I've got it," she told Grover.

"Good," he piped from his rock. "Now think about it. Focus. Make yourself as angry as you were the first time."

Emma closed her eyes and thought about those girls. She started to quake with how furious she was, the same way she had been right before she threw the punch.

She could feel something happening. She tried not to pay attention to it, she had to focus. But she could feel the water around her, brushing against her skin and her clothes. It didn't feel wet, just cool. Emma kept getting angrier and angrier by the second, until her anger peaked and she screamed.

The water, which had formed into a swirling dome around Emma, rippled with the vibration of her scream until it burst.

Emma opened her eyes just as Grover said, "Aaaaand, now I'm wet."

Emma couldn't help it, she laughed. Grover smiled as he shook his arms to flick some of the water off.

"Wait," Emma commanded, holding her hand out to stop Grover. "Let me try something."

Grover froze, both arms still held out to his sides. "What're you-"

"Shh," Emma hissed. She squinted at Grover, who looked more than a bit concerned for his safety. Emma allowed herself to get just the tiniest bit angry at herself for getting Grover wet, and the water beaded up and dripped off of him.

Emma whooped for joy and jumped around in the stream.

Grover looked down at himself and muttered, "Okay, so that happened."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Having decided that there definitely was a connection between Emma's emotions and her abilities, she and Grover stayed by the stream for the rest of the day.

When they returned to camp for dinner, Emma bounded up the hill, excited to tell Leo about her powers. But just as at lunch, Leo was missing.

Emma took her regular seat at her table and leaned forward on her elbows, ready to zone out until it was time to eat. Something kept distracting her though. She turned her head ever so slightly to her right and saw what that something was.

Annabeth was openly glaring at her. The red-head across the table from Annabeth was animatedly flinging her hands around, obviously trying to have a conversation with the daughter of Athena. When the girl realized that Annabeth wasn't paying attention, she turned to see what her friend was looking at.

The girl's face was round with freckles scattered all over, framed by her shoulder-length red hair. At first, Emma thought that she must be another daughter of Athena, but then she saw her eyes. They were bright green, unlike that trademark grey of the Athena cabin. Emma was sure she had never seen her before.

The girl turned back around and said something to Annabeth. It must have been important, because Annabeth pulled her eyes away from Emma. Annabeth opened her mouth to respond, but the red head was already pushing up from the bench and turning to face Emma again.

Unsure whether to be nervous or excited, Emma simply sat up straight and watched the girl advance toward her. When she reached the Poseidon table she sat down across from Emma, her back to Annabeth, who looked both shocked and angry.

Emma turned her blue eyes to meet the girl's green ones. "Hello," Emma said.

The girl smiled and said, "Hi! I'm Rachel. You're Emma right?"

Shocked by the enthusiastic and not at all threatening greeting, Emma found herself at a loss for words. She nodded and said, "Uh-huh."

Rachel just kept right on talking. "I'm the camp oracle. I'm a mortal though, and I have a family so I was at home celebrating Christmas with them. But I'm here now, and I've heard about you."

"Really?" Emma choked. If Rachel had been hearing about her from Annabeth, it probably wasn't anything good.

Rachel laughed. "Don't worry," she assured Emma, "I don't believe everything I hear."

Emma smiled back. As she was about to continue the conversation, Chiron trotted up next to them.

"Miss Dare," he said, and Emma assumed he was addressing Rachel, "if you'd please take your place, we're about ready to begin."

Rachel saluted and stood. "Right away, sir." She waved at Emma as she walked down the row to the Apollo table.

Dinner for Emma passed in solitude as usual. The pavilion resounded with the voices of the other campers, making Emma's ears ring.

After dinner, everyone was herded down to the amphitheater for the nightly campfire and sing-along. Emma started towards the Hephaestus cabin's spot, but realized that without Leo there, it would be more than awkward. She looked around and spotted a familiar face beaming at her from a spot hire up in the rows of seats.

Emma made her way up to where Lanie was waving enthusiastically for her to come and join her and her siblings. She side-stepped down the row to the edge and patted the seat next to her for Emma. Emma smiled gratefully and took the spot she had been offered.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem," Lanie giggled. "You were looking a bit desperate."

Emma laughed as well. "Yeah, sort of." She leaned back and placed her elbows on the empty bench behind her.

Lanie followed her friend's example. "So how are you? I haven't had a chance to talk to you since you got hurt."

"I'm okay. And it was just yesterday, it's not like we didn't see each other for a month." Emma smiled and bumped Lanie's elbow.

Lanie laughed. "True. I'm glad you're okay though."

The two girls fell into silence for a moment. Then Lanie spoke. "Oh, and like I said," she said, "I told you so."

Emma turned her head and raised an eyebrow. "You told me what?" she questioned.

"About you and Leo," Lanie continued, turning and looking back. "I told you you wanted him to ask you out."

Emma blushed and ducked her head. Thankfully she was saved from another awkward moment.

"Excuse us, ladies," a voice said behind them.

Lanie and Emma tilted their heads back and found Piper and Jason looming above them in the next row up.

"Whoops, sorry," Emma said. She and Lanie sat forward again and Jason and Piper sat where their elbows had been just a moment before.

The topic of conversation was changed after that, but the talking only lasted a few moments longer, when the sing-along started. Lanie and Emma tried to pretend they didn't notice Jason and Piper flirting behind them. Jason and Piper tried to pretend they didn't notice Lanie and Emma scooting ever further away from them.

Bed time rolled around and the campers filed out of the amphitheater. Lanie, Emma, Piper and Jason straggled along at the tail end of the Aphrodite pack. Just before Lanie and Piper split off to go to their cabin, Piper kissed Jason on the cheek. Lanie giggled happily, which earned her an exasperated look from her sister.

"What?" Lanie cried indignantly. "I love love!" When Piper just continued to look at her she muttered a halfhearted goodnight to Emma and stomped off towards her cabin.

Piper rolled her eyes, kissed Jason's cheek again, and followed Lanie away.

In silence, Jason and Emma walked down the opposite row of cabin. Hermes, Hephaestus, Apollo, Ares. They stopped at the corner between Poseidon and Zeus.

"Goodnight," Emma said. She started to make her way up the steps to her cabin.

"Hey, Emma, wait a sec," Jason called after her.

Emma turned back around to look at Jason, one hand resting on the door knob. "What is it?"

Jason peered back down the way they had just come. "You seen Leo at all today?"

"Not since breakfast," Emma responded, making her way back to him. "I was in the forest with Grover all day."

"Me neither," Jason said.

Emma looked up at Jason. Jason looked down at Emma. They both walked back to the Hephaestus cabin.

The door to the cabin was sitting wide open as the last of the campers from the sing along straggled in. Jason bounded up the steps with Emma on his heels. The two of them almost collided with Nyssa as she was exiting the cabin.

"Woah, sorry," Jason said. He reached out to simultaneously steady both Nyssa and Emma, who'd stumbled in their efforts to avoid crashing in to each other.

"Don't sweat it," Nyssa dismissed. "Do you guys know where Leo is?"

"We were coming to ask you that," Emma replied.

Nyssa muttered in what Emma assumed was Greek. There was a pause, and then all three of them said, "I'll go find him."

They all looked at each other in shock.

"Well I really don't think we all need to go looking," Jason said, laughing awkwardly.

"I'll go," Emma declared. "I'll get there faster by pegasus."

Nyssa sighed and rubbed her face. "Alright. You might have better luck than me."

Emma nodded and turned. She hurried back out of the ring of cabins and towards the stables.

She was disappointed to find that Blackjack was gone. He must have gone back out on patrol for Percy Jackson like he'd said he would. Still, she headed to the end of the aisle and opened Porkpie's stall.

"_Do you have any idea what time it is?" _the pegasus grumbled at Emma as she led him out of the building.

Emma patted the beast's snout comfortingly. "Sorry, Porkpie. I wouldn't bother you if it wasn't important, but it is."

"_Sleep's important," _he tried to reason, but Emma wasn't listening.

Emma used the fence to boost herself up onto Porkpie's back. "You know the way to Bunker 9, right?" Emma asked.

"_If I say 'no' will you let me go back to sleep?_" Porkpie replied as he shook his wings out in preparation for flight.

"Nope." Emma wrapped his mane around her hands. "I'd make you fly around the forest until we found it."

"_Well then yes, I know where it is_." Porkpie beat his wings and lifted into the air.

Thankfully for him, Porkpie actually did know the way. When they touched down in front of the mountain he asked, "_I guess you want me to wait, don't you_?"

"It's like you can get inside my head!" Emma smiled sarcastically as she dismounted.

"_Oh hardy-har-har. She thinks she's a comedian_."

Emma rolled her eyes and made her way up to the mountain side. She ran her hand over the surface until she found the slight indentation where Leo's had blackened the stone. She pressed her palm into it, even though she knew that nothing would happen.

"_Oops, locked out. Let's go back_," Porkpie urged.

"Shush," Emma snapped. She let her hand stay on the door. "I wonder if I could just knock," she mumbled to herself. As unlikely as it seemed, she decided to try it. "Well, here goes nothing."

Pounding her fist on the side of the mountain and feeling like a complete idiot Emma shouted, "Leo, let me in! Are you okay?"

"_You've gone crazy. I blame lack of sleep_," Porkpie offered.

"I thought I told you to be quiet!" Emma wheeled on the pegasus. She was about to start yelling at him when the mountain door groaned open and bumped against her back.

Turning around again, Emma found not Leo but Buford letting her in. She glanced back at Porkpie as she entered. "Stay," she ordered.

"_Yeah, yeah_," he scoffed as she left.

Once inside the bunker Emma bent down to be level with Buford. "Is Leo here?"

The table did something that Emma took as nod.

"Will you show me the way?" she requested.

Buford turned around and started towards the Argo II. Emma followed and they moved through the hole in the side.

And there, propped up against his prized syncopator fast asleep, was Leo Valdez. His arms were sprawled against the round structure, just barely holding him up.

Emma smiled and walked over to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him gently. "Leo, wake up."

Leo stirred and his eyes flickered open. "Em?" he slurred. He pushed himself off the syncopator and stood. "What the? What time is it? How'd you get in here?"

"It's after ten, Leo," Emma answered. She smoothed a black curl out of his face, which was imprinted from the ridges of the syncopator. "Buford let me in."

"Huh?" Leo lifted his wrist and held it about four inches from his face to see his watch. "Oh, wow, guess I missed dinner then."

"Yeah," Emma laughed, "and lunch."

"Oh, right." Leo closed his blood shot eyes and rubbed his hand over his face. "Holy Hades, am I tired."

"You worked all day without food, you should be," Emma replied. "Porkpie's waiting outside to take us back."

Leo grinned sleepily. "What would I do without you?"

"Spend your night sleeping on a syncopator," Emma said, gesturing to the contraption in question.

Leo took her hand with a laugh and led the way out of the bunker. As they passed Buford he didn't even asked to be cleaned, he just bumped against Emma's leg in thanks.

Porkpie was asleep outside the door. Leo snickered as he closed the bunker up.

"Hey," Emma called, "wake up featherbrain. Just one more flight and you can go to bed in your nice comfy stall."

"_Sounds like heaven_."

Leo laced his fingers together and boosted Emma up onto the pegasus. Once seated she reached down and hauled him up behind her. He got himself situated and wrapped both arms around her waist.

During the fly back to camp Emma's hair was blowing back into Leo's face. He ducked under it and pressed his nose into the crook of her neck. He snuggled up to her, wrapping his arms tighter around her. Within the few minutes it took a sluggish Porkpie to fly back to camp Leo was fast asleep against Emma's shoulder. When they landed, the jolt of Porkpie touching the ground woke Leo and he moaned, nuzzling against Emma in an attempt to get comfortable again.

"_Tell Sergeant Whiney that he's not the only tired one_," Porkpie told Emma.

Emma rolled her eyes and gently jostled Leo to get his attention. "Come on, we're back."

Leo dragged his face across her shoulder in an attempt to make himself more alert. "Back. Camp. Cabin. Bed," he muttered and pushed himself back off of Emma. He slung one leg across the pegasus' back and slid to the ground. He leaned against the fence as Emma led Porkpie into the stables.

"Thanks, buddy," Emma said as she opened the door to Porkpie's stall. "I really appreciate it."

"_If you mean it_," he said with a yawn, "_you will never do this to me ever again_."

Emma latched the gate again and made her way out. She found Leo dozing against the fence. She poked him in the ribs and said, "You need to get to bed."

Leo draped his arm across her shoulders as they made their way back to the cabins. By the time the Hephaestus cabin came into view he was practically asleep on his feet, most of his weight on Emma. Nyssa was sitting on the steps fiddling with some small mechanical device. She looked up when they approached and stood.

"Thank you for going to get him," she said to Emma.

"Don't mention it," Emma replied. She started to release Leo when she discovered that he actually was asleep on his feet. Nyssa pulled Leo's free arm over her own shoulders.

"If he was conscious, I'm sure he'd thank you, too," Nyssa grumbled as she took her brother's weight.

Before Nyssa pulled Leo and Emma completely away from each other, Emma kissed Leo's cheek and whispered, "Good night."


	10. Chapter 9: Rise and Fall

Things went alright for Emma for about a month. She'd get up for breakfast, eat, then go train with Grover until lunch. Leo may or may not show up for lunch, but she wouldn't worry about that just yet. Then she'd tag along with the Aphrodite cabin in their afternoon activities. At dinner, Rachel Dare had become a regular visitor at the Poseidon table. Leo was always at dinner, so Emma would know not to worry. Dinner was followed by the sing along, and Emma almost never got marshmallows stuck in her hair.

Then February came. With the changing of the months and the turning of the calendars, it hit the camp that the June deadline was looming ever closer. Of course, the stress hit poor Leo the hardest of all.

Within the first week of February, Leo started disappearing before breakfast. He always was back for dinner though. It started to stand out to Emma that he was getting skinnier. Even skinnier than he was to begin with. She let it slide, though, figuring that he'd calm himself down soon enough and start eating regularly again.

One day, Leo failed to come back to camp for dinner. A knot appeared in the pit of Emma's stomach. She tried to shove the fear away, reminding herself that Leo was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. She was not his mother. She did not have to constantly look after him.

All of Leo's siblings and friends seemed to have adopted the same mindset as Emma had, because no one mentioned it that night. She and Jason shared a moment of silent worry before they retired to their respective cabins, but not a word was spoken.

The next morning, Emma got out of bed and prepared for the day as she normally did. She got dressed and exited her cabin for breakfast. She walked down god row, not even needing to study each individual cabin anymore. She was almost in the clear when she heard her name being called.

Little Harley, the youngest kid in the Hephaestus cabin, was running towards her with Nyssa following behind him. Harley stopped in front of the daughter of Poseidon.

"Emma, where's Leo?" Harley asked.

Emma's heart skipped a beat. She looked from Harley up at Nyssa. "You mean he never came back to the cabin last night?"

Nyssa shook her head. "Never. He's been gone for twenty four hours. Presumably no sleep and no food, knowing him."

"I'll go look at Bunker 9," Emma declared.

"I'll come with you," Nyssa responded. "Harley, go to breakfast. Tell Chris or Shane where I went, got it?"

The kid nodded and ran off to the dining pavilion. Nyssa started towards the forest on foot, but Emma grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the stables. "Faster," she said simply and Nyssa nodded her understanding.

Emma threw open the stable doors. She bolted for Porkpie and unlatched his stall as well as that of the pegasus next to him. Porkpie bowed to make mounting easier for her and she climbed on. Nyssa managed to haul herself up onto the other pegasus. The creatures beat their powerful wings and they were airborne.

Outside the mountain Emma dismounted, walked right up and smacked her fist against the side repeatedly.

"What are you doing?" Nyssa asked incredulously. "If he crashed somewhere he won't hear you."

"But Buford will," Emma pointed out. She continued to pound on the stone door. It swung open so suddenly that she stumbled in. Much to her surprise it was not a mahogany table that opened the door, but an extremely awake looking Latino.

"Hey, Emma! Hey, Nyssa! What are you doing here?" Leo said excitedly. "Doesn't matter, you're here so now the party's gonna start! Come in, amigas!" He grabbed each girl by a hand and dragged them inside, kicking the door closed behind him.

Beatles music was blasting extremely loud from the speakers in the ceiling. There were tools strewn all over the place in an even more disorganized manner than usual. By the hole in the side of the Argo II was a pile of red and blue cans. Nyssa pried her wrist from Leo's grasp and walked over. She crouched next to the pile and picked a can up.

"Red Bull? Really, Leo? How many of these did you drink?" the boy's sister asked.

Leo looked up in the air. "Um, two whole packs plus a few extra so, um, like 16. Why, do you want one?" He pulled another can out of his tool belt and held it out with a shaking hand.

Emma snatched it away from him. "Where did you even get this?" she questioned.

"The Hermes kids can get their hands on almost anything," Leo explained. He yanked another can from his belt and held it out to her. "You want one, too, Em?"

Nyssa dropped the can back on the pile and marched over to her brother. "Alright, kid, hand 'em over. All of them. Every last one."

"What? No way!" Leo cried. He snatched back the can he'd been holding out to Emma and clutched it to his chest. His sister reached out to take it from him and he leapt back, crashing into a table that was behind him.

"That's how this is gonna be?" Nyssa raised her eyebrows threateningly. "Alright." She rushed him, pinning him against the table he'd collided with eaerlier. "Get his belt Emma!" she ordered, holding down his arms to keep him from struggling.

Emma hesitated a moment too long for Nyssa's taste. "NOW!" the girl roared.

Startled, Emma jumped forward and clumsily undid the buckle of Leo's belt. "Sorry," she murmured as she took it away from him. She pulled it out from behind him and Nyssa released him, taking the belt from Emma. She stuck her hand in the pouch he'd taken the can from and pulled out another. She rolled her eyes and marched over to a sink in the corner of the room, Emma and Leo trailing behind her. When Nyssa popped the tab on the can and began pouring it down the drain, Leo lunged forward again. Emma looped her arms around his chest and planted her feet, holding him back. Nyssa continued to pull cans from the belt, pour out the contents, and toss the empties in a corner until she couldn't find anymore. By the time she was done Leo had stopped fighting and was simply standing there glaring at her.

"What now?" Emma asked, looking to Nyssa since she seemed to know what she was doing. Emma wasn't quite sure whether to be worried or relieved by that.

"Well, there's no chance of getting him to go to sleep, even though he needs to. He's highed upon energy drink." Nyssa looked over at her brother, and discovered he wasn't there anymore. Emma jumped but Nyssa signaled for her to calm down. "He's probably just off somewhere working or running around in circles. So anyway, we can't take him back, but we can't leave him here by himself. He might hurt himself when he finally crashes. I can stay if you-"

"No, don't worry, I'll stay," Emma interjected. "I've only got me to worry about. Get back to the rest of your siblings, I'll take care of this one."

Nyssa smiled gratefully. "Thanks. Alright, I'm out. If you're not back by lunch I'll come check on you, but for your sake I hope this wears off by then. Good luck." She squeezed Emma's shoulder and handed her the tool belt as she passed and then darted for the door.

Emma wandered through Bunker 9, calling out for Leo. She figured he was probably hiding because he was mad at her. Soon enough, though, she was lost in the maze of crates in the back half of the cavern.

"Leo!" she called desperately. "Leo, I know you're mad but I seriously have no idea where I am. I could use a little-"

"Why would I be mad at you?"

She shrieked, startled by the voice from above her. She looked up and there was Leo, peering down at her from a catwalk. "What? How did you even get up there?" she questioned, still breathless from shock.

He shrugged. "I climbed a ladder. Anyways, why would I be mad at you?"

"Because-" Then she thought. If he didn't know why he was mad at her, why remind him. "Never mind. I was just being stupid. So, can you come down here and help me out? I'm lost."

"Course! Just follow the sound of my voice." With that, he ran away, his feet pounding on the metal walkway.

Emma groaned but chased after him as best she could. He kept calling out so she could follow him, leading her this way and that. It occurred to her that she was taking way more turns than she had getting _into _the maze. But if Leo said he was getting her out, she was going to trust him.

Then, his voice stopped guiding her. She continued down the aisle she was in and came to a dead end. "Leo, this isn't funny," she shouted. She started turning in slow circles, squinting up at the catwalks looking for him. After about the third time she'd come back around to the wall she stopped, crossing her arms in a huff. "Leo? You better start talking again right now!" She took a deep breath and was about to shout again when something grabbed her from behind. She screamed.

The something that had grabbed her started laughing. "I got you, Em!" the something taunted. She snapped her mouth shut, ending the scream, and yanked away from what she now realized was Leo's arms. She whirled around and glared at him.

"That wasn't funny, Leo!" she snapped. "You really scared me. I thought there was something in here and it had gotten you and now it was after me." He continued laughing but she did not smile. When he noticed that his chuckles were not catching, he stopped. "Get me back to the Argo II," she seethed and he looked down sheepishly, leading the way in silence.

The two of them finally got to the front again. Emma brushed past Leo and hauled herself up onto one of his work tables. She crossed her arms and sat there, angry. "Do whatever you want," she said coldly. "Just stay where I can see you."

Leo reached around her and grabbed a remote control off the table. He slipped inside the hull of the Argo II with it, disappearing from Emma's view. Since she could see the only entrance, though, she let it slide.

Music still blasted from the overhead speakers, though of course not the same song as when they had come in. It was some classic rock song that Emma vaguely recognized but couldn't think of the name. She would have changed it, but thought she probably needed the remote Leo had taken to do that. Instead, she looked around her immediate vicinity for something to occupy herself. She spotted the pile of empty cans that Leo had downed before they got there and decided to clean them up. She searched for a trash bag, then remembered that she still had his magic tool belt in her hand. She buckled it around her waist and flipped open one of the pockets. She thought about wanting a trash bag and put her hand in. When she removed it, lo and behold there was a trash bag. Proud of this small victory she walked to the pile and started tossing the cans into the bag one by one.

Before Emma had finished the job, Leo started calling to her from the upper deck of the Argo II. She stood up from the crouched position she'd been in and looked up at him, the scowl back on her face. He grinned, shy, and pointed up towards the ceiling. She followed his finger to the giant banner that hung from the ceiling. The first few times she'd been there it had said various things in ancient Greek. Now, the text was in English.

_I'm sorry, Emma. :-( xoxo – Leo_

She rolled her eyes but couldn't stop from smiling at how goofy he was. Above her he saw her grin and cheered, "Success!" He climbed over the deck railing and landed next to her not so gracefully, but remained on his feet. "You forgive me? I didn't mean to scare you, Emma, really I didn't."

Again, an eye roll, but she said, "I forgive you. Just don't do it again."

"I promise!" Leo declared. He made an X over his heart with his finger and winked at her, making her laugh. "A laugh! I got a laugh!" He grabbed her around the waist and spun in a circle, forcing her to drop the bag of garbage. He twirled around the open area between the Argo II and the work tables, encouraged by her giddy laughter.

"Leo! Leo, stop, I'm dizzy!" she giggled after a good two minutes of spinning. He came to an abrupt stop but still held onto her, which was good because she probably would have toppled over if he'd let go.

Only seconds after he'd stopped, though, the momentum of their twirls caught up with him and made the world spin. "Woah, trippy," was the last thing out of his mouth before his legs gave out and they both went crashing down.

"Smooth," Emma remarked, somewhat strangled due to the fact that Leo was on top of her, but still smiling.

"Come on, you know you loved it," he urged. Once she had agreed that, yes, it was quite fun, he rolled off of her and laid on his back next to her. His hand slid across the floor between them and found hers, lacing their fingers together. They laid in silence for a while, which was surprising to Emma because even when Leo wasn't pumped full of energy drink his ADHD made him restless. But he was pretty still, only moving his legs every once in a while and rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb, his music still playing. "I'm scared, Emma," he said suddenly.

Emma turned her head to look at him. "What are you scared of?" she asked with a worried tone.

"That I won't finish the ship in time. That we won't make it to this other camp to save Percy. That the camp won't have their best hero, Annabeth won't have her boyfriend, Grover won't have his best friend, you'll never get to meet your brother, the world will end and it will be all my fault." The whole time he was talking he stared straight up at the ceiling high above them.

"Is that why you did this?" Emma questioned, her voice gentle but also demanding.

Leo nodded quickly. "The longer I can stay awake the more I can get done, right?"

She sat up and moved closer to him. She used the hand that wasn't held in his to comb through his hair, his eyes closing as she did so. "Wrong. Leo, I know you're desperate but you're going to hurt yourself and then where would we be, huh? There would be _no one _working on the Argo II, it would never get done. And you'd be gone, which would be the worst of all."

His eyes opened again. "You mean that?" he inquired, shocked. "You'd actually be upset if I wasn't around?"

"Well, yeah," she replied. "Why wouldn't I? You're nice to me and you're funny and you care about me. And I care about you. I'd be sad if you were gone all of a sudden because I wouldn't have my best friend."

He smiled at her and pushed himself up so his lips pressed against hers. "Thanks, Em," he said when he pulled away. "No one's said anything like that to me in a really long time. It means a lot."

She pecked him again. "I guess I'll just have to say it more often then."

Leo nodded, but it was slow and sluggish. His eyes drooped closed, and his head fell forward against her shoulder. He slumped and started snoring.

"Aaaand, you crashed," Emma sighed. "Thanks for the warning, Leo." She got her feet under her, careful not let him fall and bang his head on the floor, wrapped her arms around his chest and attempted to stand. His body was like lead, only bendier. He flopped around like he didn't have bones, and he was suddenly way heavier than Emma remembered from helping him back to his cabin that night. She grunted and groaned and heaved but there was no way she'd be able to get Leo out of Bunker 9, much less on a pegasus. And there wasn't even a chance she'd drag him back to camp on foot.

"What now?" Emma muttered to herself. She gently laid Leo back down on the floor. "Gods, you must be exhausted," she mused, looking down at him. His mouth was open a little bit and he was completely relaxed. She ran her fingers through his curls like she had before and his lips twitched up the tiniest bit. "You're too cute for your own good," she muttered, joking.

She really didn't know what to do though. She couldn't leave him asleep on the floor by himself. That would be cruel. Nyssa would be back at lunch time, and maybe she could help Emma figure out what to do. At the moment though, she could only see one course of action. So, she laid down next to Leo with her head on his shoulder, wrapped one of his sprawled arms around her and followed him into Dreamland.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Emma slowly became conscious because of a persistent jabbing in her ribs. She lashed out groggily to grab whatever was poking her and felt what she thought was a leather boot. She blinked her eyes open and saw that it indeed was a leather boot, being worn by a very amused daughter of Hephaestus.

"Well you got him to go to sleep," Nyssa commented with a barely suppressed chuckle. "You weren't supposed to go to sleep with him though."

"Shut up," Emma grumbled sleepily. She sat up and Leo's arms slid off of her. "I couldn't pick him up so I just decided to wait for you to come back."

"I was just teasing." Nyssas tossed Emma a small cloth bundle. "Here, I brought you some lunch. Eat up, we should get him back to his bed so he stays asleep. Oh, and Grover was looking for you. He said he'd wait outside your cabin until you got back.

The daughter of Poseidon untied the bundle. Inside was a couple pieces of grilled chicken wrapped in tinfoil, a handful of carrot sticks, and a dinner roll. She muttered her thanks to Nyssa as she dug in.

While Emma ate her lunch on the floor Nyssa wandered over to one of the work tables. Leo's remote was sitting on it and she picked it up. After studying it for a moment she pressed one of the buttons and the song that was playing changed. She flicked through a couple more songs, mostly classic rock like had been playing the whole time. After a few of those a more modern song came on.

Nyssa snickered. "_Moves Like Jagger_? Nice, bro." She pressed the button and a KISS song came on.

Emma gulped down a last bite of roll and wiped her hands with the cloth.

"You done?" Nyssa asked, and Emma nodded. Nyssa walked over to her brother and crouched next to him. She got an arm around him and flipped him up so he was over her shoulder. She struggled up and then grunted at Emma, "Follow me out and shut the door." She trudged to the front. Outside, she hefted Leo across the back of one of two pegasi. Emma scurried out behind her, tugging the oversized door closed. Nyssa had situated herself behind Leo on the pegasus, one hand holding onto him to keep him from falling off, the other in the pegasus' mane. Emma climbed up on the other one and took off first.

Outside the stables Emma dismounted and helped Nyssa get Leo off their pegasus. Nyssa flung the boy back over her shoulder and started walking while Emma put back pegasi back in their stalls, making sure they got extra feed for their efforts. Emma jogged to catch up with Nyssa and matched her struggling pace, holding on to her whenever she started teetering in one direction or the other.

Just as Nyssa had said, Grover was sitting on the steps of the Poseidon cabin playing his pan pipes. Emma waved to him and signaled that she'd be there in one minute. She helped Nyssa into the Hephaestus cabin and then keyed in the passcode to bring Leo's bed up. Nyssa flopped him down on it.

"There," Nyssa sighed, relieved. "Gods, for a scrawny kid he's pretty heavy." She kicked his foot that was dangling off the edge of the bed and he snorted in his sleep. "Hopefully he'll sleep until tomorrow morning. Then me and you can knock some sense into him."

Emma laughed and walked to stand next to Nyssa. She brushed Leo's hair out of his face. She became aware of a weight around her hips and remembered she was wearing his tool belt. She took it off and hung it on a nail sticking out of one bed post. "Guess I shouldn't keep Grover waiting," she said.

"You're right. Get going, I'll keep an eye on him." Nyssa smiled at Emma. "Thanks for your help. He's lucky to have you."

The girl blushed and ducked her head. "I'll see you later," she said and then turned and hurried out.

Grover stood when Emma approached. "Hey, Emma!" he called to her. "Listen, I've got something really important to tell you."

"Cool," she responded, offering her friend a smile. "Let me find a clean shirt while you talk, I've got floor dust all over me." She grabbed his wrist and pulled him up the steps in front of her cabin.

"Emma, wait, please-"

It was too late, Emma had already pushed open the door. Standing by the wall of photos above Percy's desk was an extremely tall person. They had broad shoulders, muscular arms, and a mop of brown hair. They turned around at the sound of Grover's voice and Emma saw that their eyes were also brown.

Wait, no. _Eye. _

"Sister?" the boy said, looking at Emma.

Grover put his hand on Emma's shoulder. "Yeah, Ty, this is her. Emma this is-"

"Sister!" the boy exclaimed, excited. He rushed forward and swept Emma up in a hug. Man, he was _strong_. He was choking the air out of her, so she couldn't talk, and had her arms pinned to her sides so she couldn't get his attention to have him put her down.

"Tyson! Buddy, I think you're hurting her," Grover interjected.

The cyclops, Tyson, put her down immediately. "Sorry, sister," he said, sheepish.

Emma turned to Grover. "Care to explain?"

The satyr rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Emma, this is Tyson. He's a son of Poseidon, but not a halfblood. His mother is a nature spirit of some kind. He was very close with Percy Jackson and has been out looking for him for months which is why you've never met. He's back for a week or so, so he'll be staying in here with you."

"Is there a reason you never told me about this before?" the exasperated girl questioned.

"Not one that will make you less mad at me, no." Grover grabbed Tyson by the arm and dragged him around in front of Emma. "But he's a really nice guy and he's super excited to meet you! I think you'll like him."

She looked from satyr to cyclops and back again, her eyes finally staying on Tyson. "So you're my brother, huh?"

He nodded, smiling hopefully at her.

"I've never had a brother before," she said. She couldn't stop from smiling at how adorable he was. "How old are you, Tyson?" she asked.

"Eleven," he answered.

Her eyes slid over to Grover, who nodded and shrugged. "It's a cyclops thing," he explained.

"How old are you, sister?" Tyson asked.

"Fifteen," Emma informed him.

"Older!" He seemed excited by this. "Do you like the decorations?" He gestured around them at the cabin.

"Yeah, they're super cool," she replied. "What are the things on the ceiling?"

"Fish-ponies!"

"Hippocampi," Grover clarified.

"I made them," Tyson stated proudly, puffing out his chest.

"Really?" Emma gasped. "Tyson, they're amazing! I like them even more now that I know my brother made them." Tyson's smile got wider at the compliment.

"See, told you you would like him," Grover laughed. "I'll see you guys at dinner."

During afternoon activities, Lanie was only slightly upset that Emma had a new partner to do things with. Mostly, she was happy for her friend. Tyson and Emma dominated at canoe racing, partly because of her control over the water and partly because of his strength. During arts and crafts in with the Hephaestus kids, Nyssa assured Emma that Leo was still sleeping peacefully, and then Tyson demonstrated his skills at the forge, an area in which Emma was seriously lacking. He offered to make her a weapon, but she told him about the trident Leo had made her. He asked to see it later.

At dinner, Emma was overjoyed to not have to eat alone. People kept coming over to talk to Tyson. Rachel came over and sat down for a while, making Emma laugh as always. Just before the meal was about to start, Tyson stretched up and waved, excited. "Annabeth! Annabeth, over here! It is Tyson!"

Rachel and Emma looked where he was waving to. Annabeth had frozen looking right back at them, looking sort of shocked. Every eye in the camp watched as the daughter of Athena approached the Poseidon table. Rachel grabbed Emma's hand under the table.

"Hey, Tyson," Annabeth greeted, giving Tyson a hug. He was much gentler with her than he had been with Emma. He obviously knew how much she could handle. "How are you?"

"I am okay. I did not find Percy." He looked sad for a moment. "But look, I have a sister now!" He reached across the table and patted Emma's head to make sure Annabeth saw her.

Steely grey eyes slicked to Emma. "Yeah. We've met."

"And you're great friends. Right, girls?" Rachel cut in, looking pointedly at both of them. Her expression said, "_Please, for Tyson."_

Emma spoke first, putting on a smile. "Of course. Annabeth was the first person to help me when I got here." Well, it wasn't a lie, now was it?

Annabeth nodded. Emma couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw something in the girl's eyes change. Something hard crack. "Yeah," she said slowly. "We got along great, didn't we?"

Before anyone could say anything else, Chiron's voice interrupted them. "If everyone would please take their seats, dinner will be served." Emma and Rachel released their nervous grip on each other's hands. The Oracle stood, took Annabeth by the elbow, said goodbye, and walked away.

At the campfire, Tyson and Emma sat together as an actual cabin for once. He sang with more enthusiasm than anyone else there, but kept being interrupted by more people coming over to talk to him. They kept asking about his search for Percy. He kept awkwardly answering that he hadn't found anything. Well, he and someone named Mrs. O'Leary.

On their way back to their cabin, Emma finally decided to ask who Mrs. O'Leary was. Tyson grinned and said, "I'll show you!" He took Emma by the hand and started running. When he realized he'd almost pulled her arm out of the socket he picked her up and put her on his shoulders instead. He started off again, headed towards the arena and stables. Emma ducked so her head wouldn't hit the top of the arch when they entered the arena. Inside, while it should have been empty since it was getting late, there was _enormous _black dog. She barked, causing Emma to cover her ears. The beast charged at them and Emma clutched Tyson's shirt.

"Mrs. O'Leary, sit!" Tyson bellowed. Mrs. O'leary's hindquarters dropped and she skidded to a stop right in front of them. "Good puppy!" Tyson plucked Emma off his shoulders and put her down between him and Mrs. O'Leary. "Say hello," he prompted. Emma remained frozen in fear. He carefully grabbed her arm and held her hand out to the big dog. It sniffed the girl's hand, then licked it, covering her in slobber. Emma couldn't help but laugh and petted Mrs. O'Leary.

"Is she a hellhound?" Emma asked, tilting her head back to see Tyson.

He nodded vigorously. "Do you want a ride?"

"Oh I don't think – woah!" All of a sudden she was being lifted up and set on the hellhound's back. Tyson started running around the arena, Mrs. O'Leary chasing behind him. Emma clutched the chain link collar that was almost hidden in black fur. She whooped with excitement and eventually sat up straighter.

When Tyson got tired he stopped running. Mrs. O'Leary apparently was good with stopped suddenly because she had to make one more lap around the arena before she could ease to a halt. Tyson held his hand out and helped Emma down. They said goodnight to Mrs. O'Leary and walked towards the cabins.

"She is Percy's," Tyson said quietly. "A nice man gave her to him."

Emma looked at him in the darkness. "What's he like? Percy."

"He is the best big brother ever," Tyson answered. "He was nice to me before he knew he was my brother. He made the mean people go away, even though it made them mean to him, too. I miss him. But I will find him. Me and Mrs. O'Leary. We will go out again and we will find Percy."

There were big tears swimming in his eye. Emma reached out and wrapped her hand around his as best she could. "I know you'll find him, Tyson. You're his brother, so if anyone will find him it'll be you. You love him, and it seems like he loves you, too. I don't know how anybody couldn't love you."

Tyson wiped his eye with the hand that wasn't in hers. "Thank you. And he is _our _brother. You are our sister. He will love you, too."

* * *

**I have returned from the horrible land of writers block. And I have learned many lessons.**

**If you would like people to continue to read your fanfiction, don't make a beloved character go crazy and then leave them hanging for six months.**

**Well. It's here now! Please don't give up on me. Please. This is my favorite story I've written and it means so much to me that people actually care.**


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